Bollywood is not big in America - Kal Penn

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Hollywood actor of Indian origin Kalpen Suresh Modi aka Kal Penn is quite a hit in India courtesy his uber popular American television medical drama series, House and How I Met Your Mother. The actor who has acted in a wide array of Hollywood films including Mira Nair's much acclaimed Namesake, is in the country to promote his upcoming next, Bhopal A Prayer For Rain, a movie based on India's worst ever industrial disaster, Bhopal gas tragedy. We caught up with this talented actor cum politician( he has worked with the Obama administration) to know more about his take on the gas tragedy and Bollywood in USA.

You role is based on veteran Indian journalist Rajkumar Keswani. How did you prepare for the role? Did you meet him in person?

The character is based on a real person (Rajkumar Keswani) but a lot of fictional liberties were taken. So I wanted to be careful not to base my role too much on the real guy since there was a lot of fiction involved. I didn't get a chance to meet him. But there are articles and books in which he is cited. So I got to know a little bit about the basis of my character from those articles. Also I had to fictionalize the adaptations. The beginning of the movie is almost comical and you will see my character wearing those loud ridiculous shirts. Slowly, you start realising as time goes by that he is a serious guy who cares about his community.

What memories of Bhopal gas tragedy do you have and how has this movie changed your perception?

I was a kid when it happened and it was something that I remembered. I don't think my perception has changed and here is where I will have to appreciate Ravi Kumar's (director) writing. He tells a complex story with an extremely complex issue and touches upon all different aspects from corporate greed, government corruption, environment law, human rights to our concept of putting a value on human lives. All of these seemingly conflicting and intertwined things are hard to write. It's easy to say this is the big issue or that is the big issue but in reality all of that were so intimately intertwined 30 years ago. And then Ravi's writing was equally good as he brilliantly blended fiction with reality making sure all the sensitive things were taken care of.

Have the events been fictionalised to give it a Bollywood touch?

Not really. See this is not a documentary. When you are talking about human life and suffering that still exist, I think there is no way you can capture that on a 70 mm well. You can may be capture a small piece of it as the film follows some main 4 or 5 main characters but that's not representing the 16,000 people who lost their lives. That's such a small percentage of it. Part of being respectful to what happened was making sure people know this is a fictional adaptation. So if you want to learn about what actually happened either read a book or see a documentary

Will this film be an eye-opener of sorts?

Yes for those who know nothing about the tragedy. What we learnt from our earlier screenings in New York is that many people didn't even know that this was a real thing or something like this had happened. So if this movie sparks that conversation and make people ask what happened and ask where can we find more information about the same, then purpose would be served.

How has the reception of the film been in the US?

It has been really well received in New York. I knew the story. But there were many others who were unaware about how the ending would be. They didn't even know that this was based on reality. So there is a shock value that this film brings about and you can see people talking about why it happened.

Bollywood has gone global today. Tell us, how big is Bollywood really in the US?

It's not as big in the US. But I think the things that are appealing to a lot of people in the US are movies like The Lunchbox. It is the independent Bollywood cinema that seems to be catching a lot more. You are right when you say Indian cinema is going global. I see the entire global market place changing today.

So commercial Bollywood movies don't really have many takers in the US?

They have a market but I don't think it is as large as the global market. All of Bollywood movies that do well in Africa, Asia and Middle-East, I don't think they necessarily do well in the US. They don't have that kind of mainstream viewership but they do have takers within the South Asian community.

Are you open to Bollywood movies? If yes, what kind?

I am not a great dancer. So a role in Bollywood that doesn't require me to dance, I would be keen to take that up.

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Submitted by TellychakkarTeam on Tue, 10/21/2014 - 18:40

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