Last week I started watching a Netflix series called ‘Jubilee’. The series covers the Black and White era of Indian cinema through the lives of a Film producer, his actress cum business partner and their muses, foes, and friends.
What fascinated me was particularly one scene where a character named Jamshed Khan, living in pre-partition Lucknow, a fledgling actor tells his makeup man about his desire to go and audition for a lead role in a new movie to be produced by the Roy Talkies of Bombay. If he would get selected, which he knows he would, he fears the producers would be changing not only his lifestyle but his name too which would be Madan Kumar. In reply, the makeup man laughs and shrugs his fears and, reminding him of the nature of his profession-stagecraft, he says, “Once you go on the stage, you become a different character for that much time! What difference would it make if they called him Jamshed or Madan? Wouldn’t it be akin to just donning another costume and acting as another character?” Due to some interesting turn of events, he does not get the role, but the one who gets to finally become the Madan Kumar, is another character named Binod Das!
Even though he is working in the same studio since sometime, he is made to change his house, lifestyle and of course, his name on screen. The minute he appears in front of crowds in cinema halls and streets of Bombay, he becomes Madan Kumar the superstar. But within the confines of Mr Roy, his boss’s office and the studio in general he is still: Binod, the obedient, submissive employee of Roy Studio. This transition is well-acted by the lead actor.
Now moving from the net series, another Name that caught my attention this week: the record breaker Music producer cum Singer who went Solo and hit the Music charts with his melodious voice: AgustD, the Korean pop Idol. I was curious about his name and so did a little research about it, just to know it is the reverse of another nickname SUGA (with the TD added to tell us about the town in Korea to which he belongs), that he uses when he performs as a member of the Kpop Boy Band BTS. His original name remains Yoongi Min. And then when I read some more, I found out about a term he uses to describe this change of name every time he does Solo performances, he calls it his alter ego.
So, does it make any difference in his works if he writes as a Bangtan Boy or as a Solo music composer/producer? Unlike the stage artists or Movie artists who are distant from reality, these Kpop idols are performing live, right in front of us in a concert. And just when they are doing a Solo performance, the change in name, does it show up in the quality of their work? Can we see the alter ego helping them to break free and become something different from what they are as another member of a group? Recently, we have seen this trend of K-pop boy band members releasing Single Albums with artists other than their own Band Members rising. Is this the result of the multiple personas younger generations being happy to don in the virtual world of video games?
In my opinion, this is a positive effect of the digital world on the young minds. In the transition from the young rebellious teenager to the responsible adult, there are many challenges that the young singer facing huge crowds goes through. The opportunity to take a new name, don new strengths and limitations, sing in a different manner, gives them a sense of thrill and adventure of being different from what they originally are. The new experiments may seem challenging to them at times. At the same time, it gives them an opportunity to break free from the monotony of being same. But deep down, as Suga said in his latest interviews during his American tour and I loosely quote, “I am the same young man who was good at my job of a Delivery boy from a small village because I enjoyed it just like I enjoyed playing Basketball and creating music..”
