‘The Prince of tides’

“The Prince of Tides” is an article from a magazine written Piyush Roy. Basically, this article talks about the life of a celebrity. The main aim of this article is talk about how he overcame his various obstacles in his path and how he can also serve as a role model for his fans. He has conveyed this message across to his readers clearly through the use of his unique language, style and format. The author in this case had started of with the title “The Prince of Tides”. The title itself gives a brief summary of what he is going to write about. For example, in this case, the words “Prince” and “Tides” are of a larger font compared to the other two words in the title. Through this, the reader will understand the emphasis that is placed on the word. Not only does it place the emphasis but also gives the impression of a tide. The title itself is a metaphor allowing the reader to understand what the article is about. Basically tides are the raising and falling action of seawater along the beach and this refers to the ups and downs one would meet in his life. Thus, the prince of tides basically refers to a person who was able to overcome the difficulties that he encountered in his life. Moreover, the words such as “unpredictability” from the first paragraph also shows that he has met up and downs in his life.

Second of all, it is clear that the intended audience of the text is the group of individuals that purchase this magazine, interested in the film industry of India, more specifically Bollywood. The evidence that proves that the intended audience of the text is this specific group of individuals, is that the approach of the text is focused mainly in the professional life of the actor, describing his style, main roles in his films, and path during his entire career.

Effectively, the text describes Saif Ali Khan’s professional career as a Bollywood actor. At the beginning of the text, it is explained that when Saif started his career in the 1990’s, along with three of his brothers, he brought a total new style to the Bollywood scene. In his early years, when the Indian celebrity was twenty, he was regarded as the ‘’man with the funny face’’, and not so much attention was paid to him, but twenty years later, that way of looking at him changed. He was recognized as a celebrity in the comedy gender, and as a youth icon thanks to the performances of important roles in comedy shows, in which he received the help of the Generation X storytellers. Additionally, some information of his personal life is described, including the fact that at the beginning of his career he consumed heroin for a while, following the example of other actors, and besides of that a statement that he made is included. In this statement, he admits that at the beginning of his career, he just wanted to have fun, and that it took long time for him to grow up after getting married, and having children. Ultimately, he admits that it was in the last years of his career that he really loved acting and enjoyed it. In the last paragraph, the text informs the audience of the fact that Saif’s wide variety of abilities to perform different characters, helped him in terms of appeal and casting. Besides that, once again the text emphasizes on the idea that even though the actor did not have the greatest start, later he became a recognized celebrity due to his dynamic performances, and his desire of experiencing the performance of different characters. Moreover, the text illustrates the idea that, it is still uncertain if the Indian actor will be able in the future to not get consumed by the temptations that the richness of stardom offers. Lastly but not less important the text explains that nowadays the actor keeps challenging himself trying new things, like direction of fills, or the interpretation of a double-personality character.

The theme of the text is temptation, and human nature, since it shows how once a little bit of success is accomplished, the human gets corrupted, which shows the values that are really worth in life, and desiring to get lost in the pleasures of the richness.

The tone of the text is serious, since it evaluates, and analyses the qualities of the actor that helped him to become a celebrity, and besides of that it also contains the cons, or mistakes that the actor committed throughout his career, thus showing an evaluation including the pros and cons of the actor.

The mood of the text is inspiring and direct as the article presents Saif’s moral’s and life lessons throughout his career life.

The first literary technique used in the text is the title, which is a metaphor used by the author to attract the attention of the audience, the tides determine how far the water moves depending on the attraction of the moon, or the sun, therefore this idea is used to show that Saif has influence, since he is the King of the tides, he is the one that produces the attraction, in other words he is an influential person. Besides of that there is another metaphor in the lines 15-16 that is sued by the author to explain that choosing him for performing a temporary satire, it is an insurance since he will definitely perform well.

The structure used in the text, includes a title, a quote, a Graphic and three paragraphs. The title is used to persuade the audience to read the article, the quote is a quote of the Indian actor himself that is used as an introduction for the article, and the graphic, is a picture of the actor, which is put there with the intention of persuading the audience, since as it is noticeable in the picture, he appears with his shirt unbuttoned, which is a strategy to persuade the female audience to know about this person that appears in the picture, therefore, persuading it to read the article.

Furthermore, the persuasive language used in this text is Pathos and Logos. First off there is no Ethos, since the author of the text is not given in the text, therefore evaluating whether it has credibility or not. The text has Logos, since it includes evidence of the information that it is providing through the use of quotes of the actor himself that supports the information that the author is presenting. Lastly, it has Pathos, since it appeals to emotion through the use of a graphic that raises the admiration of the audience, and through the use of a quote in which the actor communicates feelings when he says ‘’ I have started enjoying this film business from my heart’’.

In conlcusion, the effect on the reader is to convince the target audience into growing an interest in Saif Ali khan's career life, and his ups and downs throughout his life. This is also done to persuade them into creating an inspiring feeling to be felt by the reader and to follow the famous actor's path in life.