What keeps an artiste going is the adulation of the masses.
I have always believed that an artiste needs to respond to a story first. One has to feel it in order to live it.
There was a time in my life when I'd only sing. In my initial years, I didn't ever speak on stage, forget acting. Eventually, my confidence as a performing artiste grew.
Fans are half of an artiste... without someone to appreciate him, an artiste is nothing.
It's really easy to project this whole ideology of what being an artiste is, and I'm just not down with intellectualizing it. I just think, if you feel like doing something, then do it.
An artiste can only be happy when he is true to his art.
For the grifter, ripping people off is seldom the point. The grifter is an artiste who invests in the long con.
A mimicry artiste should be spontaneous and he should be able to crack jokes on the spot.
If my stories make people uncomfortable, because it questions your set ideas and value systems that are convenient for a group of people or ideas that promote patriarchy and religious fanaticism, then my job as an artiste and a writer is done. The more you will cry foul, the louder my characters will speak.
Vijayalakshmi is one artiste whom I admire. There is something divine about her singing.
