Anisha Expresses

Recently, I was watching this interview on YouTube; it was Paresh Rawal who was the guest with a news reporter who hosts these guests in the newsroom and has candid and one-on-one interviews with them. Paresh Rawal mentioned, with the context of drama or theatre, that there is a belief that “popular is mediocre”. He intended to convey that the general public, or the audience that theatre performers perform for, has a tendency to think that everything that gains popularity is mediocre rather than extraordinary. This must be entirely true in its meaning, coming from a seasoned stage performer. However, that isn’t always the case.

A play, or any performing art for that matter, requires a great deal of work. In order to put on a fantastic show, everyone participating must put out equal effort. On the other hand, becoming popular is one of the goals of every performing art event, but it is not the only one. Any popular play needs to be very authentic; the actors must be appealing and talented, and the play’s subject matter must be extremely relatable to the audience. These are some of the things that, in my opinion, contribute to the popularity of any play or drama. It goes without saying that, in my view, popular is unquestionably not mediocre given all of the mentioned considerations and the collective efforts made to highlight the finest of the above.

I made the decision to learn more about the origins of this proverb in order to diverge a bit more from this concept. Given Paresh Rawal’s theatrical career, he may have implied that the audience’s perception of the play determines its own mediocrity. For instance, the audience determines whether or not the play will be considered popular. What the audience finds appealing about a performance determines its level of popularity. Therefore, the play’s or any art form’s popularity stems from its average quality for the audience. Promotion through word-of-mouth only occurs when the audience can relate to the play or its subject, which must be ordinary or routine for the audience to grasp it.

This saying made me wonder if we all live in a mediocre world but think we are exceptional, or if the opposite is true. Well, I don’t think there is an answer to it. However, it is definitely rooted in how people view themselves or anything else in the surroundings. I have no intention of reaching an ultimate conclusion. But I would definitely emphasise that whatever we do in life should be done with the goal of producing something spectacular; it doesn’t matter how it is perceived.