Personal Satisfaction vs. Financial Rewards in "Patol Babu, Film Star"
Summary:
Personal satisfaction is more important than financial rewards, as depicted in Satyajit Ray's short story "Patol Babu, Film Star." The main character Patol Babu realized that personal satisfaction could not be measured and weighed by money, and so he acted in the film out of passion he felt toward the job more than because of the money he would make from the job.
In Patol Babu Film Star, Satyajit Ray has highlighted the idea that personal satisfaction is more important than financial rewards. According to him, one does a job because he is interested in it rather than because he can get reward from it.
In the story Patol Babu was given only a minor role in the film, as a pedestrian who was only needed to collide into the main actor Chancal Kumar and uttered a monosyllable sound "oh." Nevertheless, his passion to the job drove him to work hard to give the best performance by rehearsing himself. Eventually, he had done a terrific job and received praises from Chancal Kumar, "You timed it so well that I nearly passed out." and Barren Mullick "Jolly good! Why, you're quite an actor!" He felt very pleased with his performance and "a total satisfaction swept over him." He thought that it did not matter whether he received any payment or not. "What were twenty rupees when measured against the intense satisfaction of a small job done with perfection and dedication?" Thus, he did not wait to collect his payment.
Patol Babu realized that personal satisfaction could not be measured and weighed by money. To him, personal satisfaction is more crucial than material rewards. Ever since the beginning, Patol Babu did not act in the film because of the money merely. In contrast, it was because of his passion towards the job that drove him to act in the film. "I'll be paid, of course, but that's not the main thing." He also knew that nobody would appreciate his performance as he is only a minor actor in the film. Even though Baren Mullick praised him, he would soon forget about it. "But all his labour and imagination he had put into this one shot--were these people able to appreciate that?" However, Patol Babu thought that his own satisfaction was more salient. He had proven his ability and talent in acting and these worked as a sort of motivation to him.
In the nutshell, personal satisfaction was more important than financial rewards and this idea work as one of the main issue in the story.
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