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Three films and one TV show old Suraj Sharma is glad that an acting career means he is not behind a desk.
Aseem Chhabra/ Rediff.com finds out that despite a life that can be heady Suraj hasn’t lost sight of reality.
For a 21-year-old with films like Life Of Pi and Million Dollar Arm behind him, Suraj Sharma still seems to have a childlike innocence in his laugh. But he has a fairly mature adult perspective on life and work.
While his Homeland co-stars -- nominated in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category -- were at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Sharma (also a nominee) was in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival where his film Umrika premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Section. It went on to win the audience award at the festival.
At the start of this interview, Sharma repeats what his publicist just told him: “My publicist is saying we only have 20 minutes. I am just letting you know.”
He follows with his sweet, innocent, awkward laughter and a disarming chat about life before and after Pi.
You live in New York now right?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I am doing the undergrad filmmaking programme at NYU right now.
So, this is your second undergraduate programme? Didn’t you also go to St Stephen’s College in Delhi?
No, I just did a year of undergrad at Stephens and I decided I wanted to do film studies.
Your brother Sriharsh has been acting too, and I have seen his two films (For Real and The Darjeeling Limited. Suraj had famously accompanied his brother for the audition of Life Of Pi and ended up landing the lead role himself). Now you have made three films. Tell me about the acting bug in your family. Were your parents okay with it?
Ah the acting bug! My brother did some theatre also. I didn’t do any theatre.
My mom and dad are very creative people who ended up going to engineering and economic fields (father is a software engineer and mother an economist). They wanted to see creativeness in their children. So, I think it stems from there.
What kind of films did you watch when you grew up in Delhi?
I used to watch cartoons only, but my dad would watch films. I ended up watching pretty good films with him.
Can you mention some of the films you watched with your father?
We watched all the Godfathers with him. We also watched the early Star Wars. A lot of films. He made us watch two Hitchcock movies, which we didn’t like at that time, but now it makes sense.
One was Vertigo. And the other was (he thinks for a few seconds) Rear Window.
You go to NYU, so you should see Rear Window again. It is set in the Village.
Are you serious? I didn’t realise that.
Yes. Watch it again. So, I am impressed that your parents were fine with you and your brother auditioning for films.
Initially, they were not fine. They were hesitant. The film industry is not always a nice place for teenagers and children. Sometimes the industry can be ethically and morally wrong. You know what I mean? But then they talked to Ang (Lee, director of Suraj’s debut film Life Of Pi) and the producers and told them that I had been brought up in a very sheltered manner.
It wasn’t like they said ‘Okay you go do this.’ It was slowly when they came to the point where they said, ‘You have an opportunity, not many people get.’
But it was good. Nobody gave me bhav (undue importance) and that kind of stuff.
How many months did you spend shooting the film in Taiwan?
Nine months.
You were 17 and in 12th grade?
I did half of 12th grade and then I shot the film. Then came back and did 12th again.
It must have been an amazing shoot.
Yes, they had a huge tank of the size of a football field and intense machines. I didn’t know they could do those things.
How is Ang Lee like a director?
He’s like his films. He’s very intense, but very nice. He’s has a fun side, but more like he’s relaxed. He’s a very calm human being. He never lost his temper even though we went through pretty harsh conditions.
I had two months of prep. He made me watch a lot of references, films and books. We practiced scenes from plays. I did a lot of yoga, swimming.
And then, during the shoot, he told me to forget everything he had taught me. He wanted me to be my natural self that I had become.
That film went to so many places, the awards and you had to walk red carpets.
When I started working on the film I had no idea all of that was going to happen. It was interesting. I didn’t known what to do on the red carpet, so I would talk to people. It was very different from what I had done until then. That was not my life.
You wore a tuxedo for the Oscars. Had you worn one before?
I never owned a suit. Tuxedo was a long shot. I bought one in LA. I have worn tuxedos since then (he lets out a little laugh).
Then I saw you in Million Dollar Arm, and I realised how comfortable you were acting in Hindi. Obviously, you are from Delhi. Did you know baseball before the film?
We went for three weeks of training. I had to learn to throw with my left arm and I am a righty. The baseball part was very new.
Shooting in America for the first time was a completely different ball game.
And then this past year you were on six episodes of Homeland. That’s a very mature role. You even have a sex scene in it with Claire Danes. I am not being gossipy, but I am curious how you handled the sex scene at such a young age.
I mean it’s not like you are really having sex (he laughs again nervously).
I was damn nervous at first. Bhai, mere ko pata nahin (I don’t know) if I can do that. But we had a great crew. Nobody made me feel awkward. Everyone was nice. Claire was very, very understanding.
It was a TV show so you had different directors for each episode. The shooting was much faster. Also I didn’t know where the story was going. They were writing while we were shooting.
Where was it shot?
It was shot in Cape Town.
Oh yes, Nimrat Kaur had told me before.
Nimrat is awesome. She’s nice and talented, man!
I watched Umrika last week and I was very impressed with your performance. It’s your biggest role and you carry the film on your shoulders.
It was a completely different experience working on an indie film with no money and everyone was young. I have been lucky. I can only act during my holidays, since I am focusing on college. Umrika was shot last year -- mid-December to mid-January.
How did you prepare for the role? There is a lot of sadness in your character. Often you don’t speak much.
Dukh to sabhi ko lagta hai (everyone experiences sadness) (he bursts out laughing).
Ya man, I had to prepare for the film. I worked with my dialogue coach who taught me Bundeli. He would speak to me in Bundeli and I would respond in Hindi. That’s how I learned the language.
The sadness also came from the fact that we were working 15-17 hours a day. Pretty harsh conditions. And there were moments you were sad and you didn’t want to show it to the crew (more laughter). So you just showed it to the camera.
I was going to say you are only 21. What kind of sadness would you have in your life?
Arre jahan se khushi aati hai na, wahin se dukh bhi aata hai (sadness comes from the same place where you find happiness).
Tell me about Prashant Nair, the director of Umrika. How did he work with you?
He’s a very surprising man. He completely relaxed and soft spoken. He never messes around, even when the whole crew is exhausted. He stays focused. The people he was working with -- at least the crew, were more experienced than him. Yet he was the leader. Everyone looked up to him. And when he doesn’t know something he asks. He would take inputs from others.
I had talked to Prashant and he told me about working with Tony Revolori, how he had to be taught to speak Hindi.
Tony is a wonderful actor. That was a long shot.
Speaking Bundeli is hard even for people who know Hindi, so it took time and a lot of effort. I was helping Tony. Other actors were helping him also.
This film was a like a little family trying to put it all together. Everyone was holding on to make it work. That’s why it was special.
Was it a challenge for you as an actor working with another actor whose Hindi is not that good and then to show reactions to his dialogues?
Tony did speak a little funnily. But then many times you don’t have to say something to put the feeling across. That’s the way it was. Tony could understand the subtext of what he was saying, even if he didn’t understand every word of his dialogue. That’s what I was reacting to.
You have done three important films and a major TV show? Are you happy with the way your life is shaping up?
Happy? I don’t know. It’s interesting. It’s risky and dangerous, but I don’t have to sit behind a desk. It’s pretty great.
At the same time you lose some elements of your life -- if I would take it that far -- for the sake of art. You win something, you lose something.
Would you do a mainstream film in India? A Bollywood film for instance?
I would if the script is good and it is something very different. I cannot do the very over-the-top stuff. So I would probably avoid that.