Failure in Auditions? No Entry in Bollywood? 6 Success Tips

MTV Hero Honda Auditions. Many failed

Thousands of young men and women with a dream to become an actor in Bollywood come to Mumbai and in spite of getting a professional training in a school,  fail to get an entry into Bollywood. Why?

Of course, there are many factors contributing to this disappointment, but one of the major ones is a failure in auditions. Forget about getting a role, they don�t get even a callback (a 2nd interview).

When some of these aspiring actors approached me, complaining that though they had attended dozens of auditions, they don�t get the job. However, when they followed seriously what I had recommended, surprisingly, many of them succeeded in bagging a role either in a film or a serial or in a commercial.  

Therefore, I strongly recommend studying these suggestions properly and training your self accordingly.

If you're not getting as many acting callbacks as you'd like, check out these audition tips as you prepare your next acting auditions. These audition tips will be useful whether you attend a theater, film or commercial audition.

1. When to arrive at the Casting Call

• Make sure you arrive at your acting audition 15-20 minutes early. This will give you time to freshen up, fill out any audition forms and prepare your lines or your monologue. 
• Make sure you have your portfolio and resume (in case required) in hand before you walk in the audition room. Auditions are typically around 5 minutes long, you don't want to use up that precious time fishing around your bag for your headshots.

2. I get nervous

The more important the acting audition, the more that's likely to happen. Here's a few audition tips on how to turn performance anxiety into self-confidence:

Don�t mix with other actors. Camera or stage fright is contagious, plus you don't want to compare yourself to an actor auditioning for the same part as you. Create your own space and try to shut out the world around you so you can prepare and focus.

Relax with exercise. If you went to acting school or to a private acting coach, you probably have worked on relaxation and breathing exercises. Now's the time to use them. Concentrate on breathing deeply and slowly from your midsection, letting go of tension in a different part of your body with each breath, from head to toe.

3. How to concentrate

Relaxation and breathing exercises should help you to get rid of nervousness. Now use your audition piece to completely focus. Imagine you're the character in your audition piece. Try to remember as the character what you had for breakfast or what you did yesterday. Think as the character about the people you love, those you hate, those you're having a conflict with. Play in your mind what just happened before the audition scene or monologue you're about to perform..

4. Think you got the role. 

As an actor, our imagination is our greatest strength. Imagine you've got the role and you're coming in to rehearse. This audition tip will help if a lack of self-confidence is making you nervous.

Let's enter the audition room...

5. Make a good First Impression

Smile

A smile is worth a thousand words and will help relax you and your audience. Imagine a friend in place of the auditioner(s) and greet them with a warm confident smile.

An eye contact

Sometimes, when we're nervous, we tend to look away, so make sure to look people in the eye when you speak.

Check your body language

Don't let the awkwardness of standing in front of so called seated "judges" make you fidget or cross your arms or do any of the other inappropriate signs of an uncomfortable actor. There is tremendous power in stillness.
You can use an approach like the Alexander Technique to center yourself.
(The Alexander technique teaches actors how to stop using unnecessary levels of muscular and mental tension during their activities. It is an educational process rather than a relaxation technique or form of exercise)

Take the lead

Don't wait for something to happen. When you enter the room, greet everyone and introduce yourself. If you are in a film or commercial audition, find your mark and stand on it.

6. Don�t

Don't rush...

Talk to the auditioner if you have a question. For example, if you don�t know where to look (If it is a camera audition).  When you ask a question, wait for an answer.

But don't linger

The goal is to make a good impression. A casting director will not appreciate you putting them behind schedule, plus your audition monologue could be cut short as a result. Commercial auditions are particularly fast.

Don't make excuses

Don't preamble your audition piece with something like, "I only had an hour to prepare this audition piece, so bear with me" or "I'm not too well today". Actors make these statements all the time and they never help them make a good impression. Just do the best you can.

Don�t be too eager to shake hands

Some casting directors don't like to shake actors' hands. If they extend out their hands, great. If not, a friendly smile from you will make contact just as well as a handshake.

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6 Secrets of Bollywood Auditions to Get Dream Role

I have seen many good actors from my coaching or from other acting schools failing at Bollywood film auditions. In case of my such students, I called them for one on one session and critically analyzed causes and remedies. This was very important as repeated failures at auditions, inspite of being a good actor was demoralizing and was suicidal to their career.
The reasons I found were ranging from nervousness to lack of confidence to inability to understand the character to the technical part of audition etc. etc...
Consequent to my analysis, I had to develop a strategy because good actors failing in auditions was unacceptable!
Based on my experience, on suggestions by friend casting directors and reading literature available on some good acting sites, I devised a solution-
Here are top 6 sure shot techniques which with practice will see you through in auditions and bag the roles you are aspiring.

1. Your confidence while walking into an audition room

If you don�t believe in yourself, nobody else will. The audition starts the moment you walk into the room, so find a way to be relaxed, and project unshakeable confidence. If you don�t have it, fake it. This is all about body language and eye contact, so walk into the room with your head up, shoulders back, with total focus and relaxation. It�s the kind of confidence that makes people trust you, and allows them to feel they can put you on set tomorrow and you will be fine and not waste their time. You are prepared, know your job in the scene, your lines, and believe in the circumstances. Even if you are scared inside, you have to �act� like a confident person. (You are an actor, right?)
The confidence gives you a particular charisma. This is what makes good auditions stand out. It�s your essence, your personality, your authentic self. It�s what you have that nobody else can offer, even when everyone is reading and playing the same exact script. It�s the magic that you bring to the lines that make them interesting, unique, and different, with your own stamp on it.

2. The character (role) you have to play at the audition

Don�t worry about what they are looking for. It�s your job to show them your unique interpretation of who this character is. Your character has a point of view in the scene. What is it? Think of three adjectives to describe this person and write these at the top of the script (annoyed, frustrated, in love, etc.). If there is a chair in the room, how do they sit in this chair? What is the character�s body language? How do they speak? The clearer you are on the character, the more your nerves dissolve, and you can disappear into this person�s world.

3. Create a conflict

The bottom line of every good scene is conflict, even if it�s from within. What is at stake in the scene? What are the characters fighting for? What are the circumstances around this scene? Find out what that is, and then put that high voltage energy into how the "character", you intend playing for the audition deals with it. If you are very clear on the conflict in a scene, the objective of a scene and the objective of the character, it will create and dictate the rhythm, inflection, and tone of each line, and avoid the trap of playing the �mediocre.�

4. Concentration is the key

Close your eyes for a moment and take a long breath before you begin the scene. Quiet your mind and concentrate on the moment before. This involves total emotional and physical commitment, to the character, to the words, the thoughts, and being totally prepared. It�s not enough to just know the lines, you have to "live" them, and understand what�s behind the lines. If you are worried about what people are thinking, or your next line, then you are not fully in the scene. You have to be true to the emotions, and personalize them, so that your eyes, voice, and body are reflecting those feelings.

5. Connect yourself with your co-star even though there is nobody

Many a times you are delivering your lines to someone, but there is no that "someone" in front of you. If there are dialogs of your co star in a scene, it may be spoken by an assistant sitting next to or behind the camera or in another case, it may be just your lines only.
What do you do in both of these situations?
A. When a script has more than one character and a reader is reading the lines of the other character. Look at the reader. Have a strong eye contact (unless specified by the casting director where to look). Think of who is that person? How do you feel about that other character? What is that relationship like? It�s important to listen in a very active way, as if you hear the words for the first time. It should feel like a real, not a scene for an acting class. You have to absorb the lines and respond from moment to moment. It should feel like you are the only two people in the room.
B. When it's a monologue. Although it is not a conversation with others, remember that you always address your monologue to someone or to a group. Therefore, always ask this question to yourself "To whom am I addressing my lines?". Ask the casting director where to look and deliver your lines exactly the same way as it is in "A" 

6. Have total clarity 

Be clear with your choices about how to deliver your lines. There is always more than one way to say a line. Just pick one. This doesn�t mean make bold, crazy, irrational choices, it just means make a decision with each line based on what your character wants. Don�t be safe, and don�t just run fast over the important moments. If you are lucky and get your lines in advance, Do the work at home, but then be open to direction and flexible in the audition room.
Based on source for the benefit of aspiring actors

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Actors! Learn Only One Kind of Acting for Success in Bollywood

Be yourself

You are going to save a lot of money on classes.  

I always see ads offering classes in �Film Acting�, "Meismer" or "Michael Chekov" technique workshop, etc. to give you an  entry into Bollywood.
Schools and teachers always want to break up acting into many categories, which gives the illusion that there are many different kinds of "acting".
There may be a benefit to going to some of these types of workshops, but remember, these places make a lot of money by convincing people that they have something to teach see here.  They need you to believe that there is some secret way that film actors act, that you don�t know anything about; or that commercial actors know something you don�t, unless you pay thousands of Rupees for a workshop.

Well, here�s some good news:
There is only one kind of acting, and that is

�Behaving as if it's really happening to you�  

� And that's easy, it seems, and not easy

It'easy

Rather than trying hard to be in a character, copy some similar actor you have observed or being theatrical with gestures, voice and volume, just be yourself and shoot!

It could be difficult

You can not forget everything around you-camera, restrictions on movements, people, lights and sound etc...
Therefore, to be natural and be in yourself without forgetting surroundings may be difficult for some of the new actors.
The the key to be in yourself and at the same time, be aware of the scene around you is-

A totally relaxed mind 

This comes with practice relaxation wethods regularly and at the time of just before the shot. (See here)

What is the difference between theater acting and film acting?

Most actors begin their performing lives in theater.  So it's understandable that they worry about how to adapt their acting craft for film and TV which is acting for camera.

After working initially for theatre and then for films for many years I learned the secret to film acting. I remember revealing this secret to a student of mine 4 years back. John Dias, a Goan by birth and fluent in Hindi had a theatre background with few plays. He was rehearsing a scene when I told him to do it again with a simple direction tip  "Do it just for this room and the camera in front of you"     

What I was saying was, don�t perform for 20 rows beyond where you stand.  Just say to ONE row in front of you
Be in THIS room, just talking to ME.
And THAT is how you do it.  Simple.
(And if the scene takes place in a car, then you do it �just for this car�.)
Theater acting and film acting both require the same truthful approach to the circumstances.  In both genres (Types) you are "behaving as if it's really happening", but with film acting you don�t �project� your performance outwards to an audience.  Instead, you are selfishly only involved in your own experience.
Film acting runs on "empathy" (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another).  The audience's experience can only be your experience.
On film, the audience sees and feels EVERYTHING you are experiencing, so there�s no need to project what you�re experiencing outwards to an unseen audience.
However, you have to be careful. Many actors, when attempting to adjust their performance to film, make the mistake of becoming over-sensitive to the camera and become small, which means they over control their responses and this may stifle "spontaneity" and naturalness.
The great thing about �just for this room� is that sometimes in a room someone shouts �GET OUT!�, while other times someone whispers, �I love you.�
So you no longer need to monitor how big or small you are behaving.  In real life, people have moments where they experience big reactions AND tiny responses. Remember, film acting is simply a direct mirror to life.
Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and search for a successful personality and duplicate it--Rashmi Desai Sandhu

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How to Master Separate Auditions Techniques for Theatre | TV | Film

What are the differences in auditioning for Theatre/ TV/ Film?

Many a times I have observed that though an actor may succeed,  say in an audition  for a theatre and bag a role, fails in an audition for a TV serial or in commercial (Ads) audition.
Why this happens?
The differences come down to one thing, technique! Each area of the industry requires a specific technique to make it successful. Learn each of these techniques and apply them to your acting craft.

1. OPEN CALLS

Open calls are the auditions that are advertised in a film magazine, website like bollywoodhunts.com or Olx/ Quikr, through Coordinators or by word of mouth that do not require an appointment. Open calls sometimes only have casting assistants sit in on the audition, and the casting director may or may not have a chance to see your work. Professional acting experience may not be necessary. This is a great training ground to gain practice at auditioning. And I strongly recommend to attend all these open casting calls for aspiring actors. You may prepare few monologues of different emotions.

2. THEATRE AUDITIONS

Generally speaking, when we talk about theatre, we talk about actions being BIG, LARGER than LIFE....remember you are in a theatre so your voice has to project to the last seat in the house. Even physically, your gestures need to be large in order for the audience to see and understand what you are trying to emote, all the while being as realistic and honest as possible.

3. TV AND FILM AUDITIONS

Generally speaking the cameras allow for less movement than theatre, and the style tends to be more intimate. The audition process is similar to theatre, except that you are put on tape, usually with only the casting director. If you are called back, you are put on tape again with the casting director, producer and the director. These auditions come with sides (lines) or scenes from the script that you may get in advance, if you are lucky or at the audition venue.
Television tends to have harsher lighting than film and the sound may be different due to shooting in the studio atmosphere. It is important to have classes in both TV and film styles of on-camera training. Obviously your makeup and hair are more important here.

4. COMMERCIAL AUDITIONS

At commercial auditions, the only general difference from the television auditions described above is that this too requires a specific technique. They are less focused on your acting ability, and more based on your personality, commercial technique and your look and type. If there are sides (lines), memorize them. You may have to audition in pairs or groups. Don't let that make you tense. Remember, it's the product/item/concept which is more important than you. So, just be yourself and speak your lines, if there are any, in your natural way. Forget the camera once you have noticed it's location and enjoy yourself. You are usually in and out in few minutes.

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The Shocking Truth About Acting Schools and Casting Directors

Victims of Bollywood Cheaters

Have you been?

Again yesterday, I got another call from a Bollywood aspiring actor, Rohan from Delhi who had paid an advance of Rs. 1.2 Lacs to, a supposedly leading acting institute who had promised him a leading role in a film. It had been 3 months and nothing had happened yet. Rohan, during his talk started crying. He had come from a farmer's family in Haryana and didn't know how to face his father now.
There are numerous incidences of this kind, I have come across. There are similar cases of heart breaking experiences with casting directors who had duped aspiring actors, who land up in Mumbai from the other towns with a dream to be an actor, without knowing what has to be done to become an actor, the kind of hard work and patience needed, money and years required and finally the luck you should have. They are also unaware of the functioning style of the film and television industry. Nor they take pains to plan their career intelligently.
The result is utter disappointment, shattered dreams and the total loss of money and time, which is gone forever.
To substantiate my views and personal experiences, I'm giving below 2 reviews and opinions 1. A leading Director/ Actor and 2. A leading Casting Director from Mumbai

"Acting Schools are money minting Rackets"

An interview with Cyrus Dastur

Enigmatic actor/director and a connoisseur of short films, with his own group - Shamiana, doing some excellent work, nurturing and providing a platform for the budding filmmakers, Cyrus Dastur shared his views about current actors.

What's your take on the acting schools, which offer instant fame to the aspiring actors, mainly coming from smaller cities?
I come from Mumbai so I can tell you that these acting schools are just money minting rackets. Again, the problem is that the youngsters too, want instant fame and believe that once they'll learn acting from a particular institute, they'll automatically start getting roles, which is not the case. Until and unless one is willing to do hard work - the hard way, there are almost negligible chances of success. People need to understand that there is no easier way to do the hard work. That is the reason we are not getting quality actors these days. In fact, I think that almost all of the actors of the current generation are quite bad, with the only exception of Ranbir Kapoor, who is best among the current lot.
Source

"Most Casing Folks Give The Rest a bad Name"

Casting Director Mukesh Chhabra Speaks

Casting Director Mukesh Chhabra

"The golden rule for every aspiring actor is that fame is temporary, talent is permanent. Those who aren�t really talented are the ones who fall prey to casting touts and their vicious schemes. It has been a long and arduous journey for my team to bring respect and credibility to the craft (Of casting) that had become notorious, thanks for the suffix �couch�. Over a 100 films later, winning prestigious awards and earning recognition from industry bigwigs was not a cakewalk. On the contrary, we had to work harder every time
a �casting couch� controversy made headlines in the tabloids. It pains us when the casting process is perceived in a certain way by people who have no idea of what goes behind casting an actor for a particular role.
For us, no role is small and no film insignificant. If the makers have trusted us with the responsibility of giving them actors, we toil to find the perfect characters for a film. We are asked, �Yeh actor hai kaun? Kiska beta hai, kiska bhai, behan ya rishtedaar hai?� (Who�s this actor? Is he related to an influential person?) Such details have never mattered to us.
For us, the script is the Holy Grail and the director�s vision is our guiding light. The few known casting directors have to deal with mind-boggling pressures, but the unbridled passion we have for our craft sees us through. The pride we feel when film reviews highlight our efforts is something we strive to achieve. There is nothing we would ever bargain this for, not money or any other consideration for that matter. It is unfair to ask us about the non-existent casting couch. There is so much more to casting than just that notorious �couch�. Ninety per cent of casting folks give the rest a bad name. We respect all kinds of actors and have roles, even for the bad ones. We request the actors to repose faith in their talent and in us, because when the role suits them, their phone will ring. After that it is your luck and hard work that will determine your career. No point in first willing to compromise and then crying foul.
In a digital era, your talent can�t go unnoticed. Why meet shady people who have nothing to offer?
On a daily average, we meet 50-oddly earnest and passionate actors, but there are only a handful of films being made at a given time. So, it is impossible that everybody gets meaty roles in films that we cast for.
The keywords are talent, patience and perseverance. The industry is going through a Renaissance and there will be roles for all the good actors. If you cross the road when you aren�t supposed to, you can�t blame anybody for your accident. While you are waiting for your chance to be in front of the camera, evolve as a human being, watch good films, read good books and when it is your turn, show us that we were right when we decided to call you for the audition."
Source
Posted 19-Mar-2014

The Cheat Casting Director

Producer Anurag Kashyap (Udaan, Gangs of Wasseypur, The Lunchbox and many more) 

Producer, Director Anurag Kashyap

The Phantom Films, producers of Anurag Kashyap's "Bombay Velvet", have filed a complaint with the Versova police in Mumbai against one Varun Gupta for duping aspiring actors as the casting director of the film.
The accused was apparently sending messages to girls of small towns, inviting them to send their portfolios for the casting of the second female lead in the film. According to the message circulated by Gupta, an audition was to be held in Delhi on September 10 and in Mumbai on September 16 for the same. Read more..
Source

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