Chandigarh, Dec 03: India is home for me and one does not visit but come home, Sir Ben Kingsley gets nostalgic over the extraordinary welcome he receives in the country, happy that the thread that was created in 1981-82 during the filming of Gandhi has not snapped.
“My performance in Gandhi was made possible by the extraordinary trust that was put in me, and the amazing rapport I shared with co-actors including Roshan Seth, Rohini Hattangadi and Neena Gupta. It was like an echo from history – like Gandhi-Nehru relationship there is a Roshan Seth-Ben Kingsley relationship,” says the legendary actor, impressed by the way Mahatma Gandhi diverted his anger to something more constructive.
On his forthcoming project on Taj Mahal, Sir Kingsley says he sees the Taj “as a scream of pain frozen in marble, I want to explore how deep was that pain. Taj is a touchstone and symbol of love.”
For Sir Kingsley, an actor has both angel and demon in him, and it is the actor’s choice and his power to bring out a character. “I hope to develop some empathy with the character of Shahjahan in order to to portray his struggles effectively,” expresses Sir Kingsley, here to raise fund for the project.
Comparing Satyajit Ray’s understanding of human struggles to that of Shakespeare’s and Tolstoy, he added that Ray was capable of conveying a whole array of nuances within a shot. “Among the contemporary Indian directors, Mira Nair is definitely very interesting. As opposed to quick cutting style in the west, Indian directors allow a shot to stay on the screen and experience its impact.”
As for working with Amitabh Bachchan in Teen Patti, Sir Kingsley says “the Indian star is very wise, kind, intelligent and a joy to work with.” The usual!
–Agencies