Prabhu Deva Quotes

I think film and television are really a director's medium, whereas theatre is the actor's medium.

The entertainment is in the presentation.

I am a showman in the traditional sense, but modern, too. I like to use sets and lighting to create magic.

I feel very giddy with the idea of making my imagination take form and being able to put on a show where people leave feeling like they've experienced something.

So I think I'll say the obvious thing: theater is ephemeral. When a production is done, it's gone forever. You can take pictures of it. You can make a film of it. But it's not the production. It's not the same thing.

I don't know why people are so surprised by my live performances.

This play is truly a great invention, and we're having a great time doing it eight times a week.

When you shoot a musical, you're shooting to lipsynch tracks, so we had to figure out our choreography and work out what we wanted to do with each number before we did it.

I have always thought of myself as a performer first and way down the line as a recording artist.

Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.

I come from a tradition where the writer writes a play for the actors, rather than for himself, and the dialogue is made to work onstage, so it needs actors to help shape it. So you never get a play right straightaway.

Being a dancer and a singer gave me some advantage with regards to having a stage presence. I always take my timing from the audience because they are half of my act.

I believe a great performer is someone who sounds just as great live as they do in the studio and vice versa. They should know how to work the stage.

With a play, there's more of a definable arc because of the nature of theater: You know, there's no editing, so there's something more natural about the arc a character follows in a play. I think theater is more an actor's medium, whereas film is more a director's medium, because that's who controls the final feel of the film.

Every act I see, their whole act is choreographed. I'm sick of seeing these dancers. The only reason they have them is they don't have enough talent to get people dancing themselves.

Sometimes you get bored of the same moves, but you know that there are those moves that those fans love.

In theater, they say a theater piece is only as good as its transitions.

Actors can be many things - vain, venal, self-serving, obnoxious, bullies - but all of the good ones are great storytellers.

Compared to film or television, theater is more interactive, collaborative.

What I love is to create a show and for people to enjoy it and be aware that's what it is: a show.

Live performances always feel like such a moment with all of the costumes and theatrics.

I love the interactive nature of theater. I just craved it. As much as I love working on a film or TV set, most of the storytelling happens in the editing, whereas when you're doing a play, the storytelling is in your hands as an actor.

I like ensemble shows.

I want to see someone like Bobby 'The Brain' jumping around in his weasel suit with the rhinestones. Guys who are animated like that make the best translation to TV and to videogames.

When it comes to writing musicals, you write the best piece you can. Then, its destiny is in the hands of the actors and the director.