How hard is it to play a mad person?

When we look at Sharad's acting as the mental Saagar, or Neeraj's acting in Koshish and Gurdeep's acting as mad Vedika then we think wow, it must be so hard for them to act like that. Automatically they become very good actors in the eyes of the viewers. But my question is, is it really that hard to play a mentally challenged person? We all have a child in us somewhere and we do let it out many times. In fact there are incidents where I become a complete baby when I'm actually 18 years old. So is it that hard to play someone that you have already been? Isn't it harder to play a character who you do not relate to i.e. In Reth, the female protaganist was raped. Whats more harder to play? The torn and insulted woman or the little 7 year old? Even on the big screen, Hrithik Roshan won many accolades as the Rohit for KMG but he even said in an interview that he had to find the child in himself again, ofcourse its not an easy job but you still have that childish nature in you. This is why I think his performance in Lakshya was a better one than his performance in KMG. In Lakshya he played a confused guy who found his aim during a journey. Do we put the actors who play mentally retarded roles on a much higher status than they actually deserve? I would really like to know your opinions. How hard is it to play a little child?

I am not saying it is easy playing this kind of role because it really isn't because I feel no role is easy to play in front of the camera or on stage.

I know I agree, with you, it isn't that hard, I can act childish if I have to also, and yeah anyone can do those roles..

Great discussion 👏

I totally agree with you. Compared to playing a serious character, playing a mad person should be much easier.
Even I don't say acting's easy but I loved the example you gave of Jia who had been raped in Reth.

In most serials, the 'mad' person is married or gets married. Now the life partner has the most challenging role / part. While the mad person can be a total kid and keep doing childish things, the partner has to be serious but yet understanding and warm, just the way Vidya's managing. 😊

Playing mad actually can be differentiated according to what kind of mad a person is portraying. A complete mad person,like Ved did in Sindoor is easy to portray. However, playing an 8 year old in a grown up body can actually be very challenging. Because then you are not really 'mad' but regressed in your age. So you actually play sane, a child with a grown up body, and if not played properly, you can easily come across as spoiled, and sometimes even clownish.........the whole body language changes, the facial muscles have to be controlled to express the emotions of a child, a sane child who wants to play and do anything that is normal for an eight year old.....

Then schezophrenia can be difficult to portray as well. Russel Crowe was beyong compare in the movie ' A beautiful mind'. There he was, a genius of a mind, trapped in an illusionary world, not being able to differentiate between what is real and what is imagination......it was truly one of the best performance I have seen anywhere.

Acting in any form isn't easy...there's always complications. Like at times when Sharad is at shooting and he's in a really serious mood or sad mood...it would be hard to act wacky. He's really good at it though 😊😉 Also since people like Hrithik are pretty much old now (*sigh*😒😛) it probably WAS hard for him to act like a kid. But not as hard as it most likely is to act serious. Because (hopefully!!) people on the sets are happy most of the time, and so it must be hard to be emotional after you just played a prank on your coworker five minutes ago. So all in all it must be hard to act out either role...just depends on your level of capability😉.

firstly thank god i'm not an actress..if i was then i would not have 2 'act' being mad..i would just act natural and people would think i'm acting 😆
but ermm..like people who play such a role e.g hrithik roshan in KMG and gattu from BB..if you notice, in real life..he is the total opposite of the charcter he plays, for those who dont know..gattu is a guy who is meant to be portraying around a 30 year old charcter 😕 but w/ a brain of a very small child..just like KMG..i feel that people like him have a strong character..they makes us LOL..but they also make us sympathise with them and they have a moment or to when we realise that they have more knowlodge and understanding than us normal day human beings and also..in real life if you notice in his iterviews..he is a serious 50 year old guy who does not resemble this person in the serial at all, they are not alike at all, yet still he manages to portray such a great character 👏 and well..neway..i dont know if many of you remember but there used to be a program on zee tv called koshish...and abhi ermm..4get his real name 😕 played a big guy with a small mind and a lot of us loved that character..you can see all the hard work that was put in to each and every shot..it must take a lot of sweat and energy to play such a role that creates a big impact on many people especially as its a thing that tends to happen in real life too..
but minnie was also right..their body language says it all..

Tina xx

Great discussion topic, Reemz ji 👏

Honestly, I think it's how good you are at acting - because anyone can act paagal or anyone can act sad all the time.... but it depends on how you can do it.

Hritik, for the example you used, got recognised very well and received many awards because he stayed pretty consistent in the way he acted, however funny/bad it was. For people in the shows like Sagar in Dulhan, it's easier to look at him as a baccha because his face looks young itself! But if he doesn't portray it very well, people will really know they're acting.

To me, acting anyway, paagal, etc., can only be done well if you really get in to your character - for example, if Sagar looks like Sagar and not Sharad (his real name), then you can see how much he is getting into his character. I think it's the same for all other actors as well...

Originally posted by: Minnie

Playing mad actually can be differentiated according to what kind of mad a person is portraying. A complete mad person,like Ved did in Sindoor is easy to portray. However, playing an 8 year old in a grown up body can actually be very challenging. Because then you are not really 'mad' but regressed in your age. So you actually play sane, a child with a grown up body, and if not played properly, you can easily come across as spoiled, and sometimes even clownish.........the whole body language changes, the facial muscles have to be controlled to express the emotions of a child, a sane child who wants to play and do anything that is normal for an eight year old.....

Then schezophrenia can be difficult to portray as well. Russel Crowe was beyong compare in the movie ' A beautiful mind'. There he was, a genius of a mind, trapped in an illusionary world, not being able to differentiate between what is real and what is imagination......it was truly one of the best performance I have seen anywhere.

i agree with ur answer

it was well written

characters like mayank from kyunki, sagar from bmtd, n other characters like tat r very hard to portray

vedika's role may be easier but vedika was most of the time normal only for a month she played mental

otherwise she was "sane "