Rajesh Parameswaran: Storie d'amore che finiscono male (o malissimo)

In questi giorni è in distribuzione in libreria la raccolta di racconti Storie d'amore che finiscono male (o malissimo) di Rajesh Parameswaran, pubblicata da Edizioni Piemme.

Randeep Hooda: I did not talk to Alia for the longest time

Ammettiamolo: è sempre un grande piacere ascoltare il suo timbro di voce e soprattutto ammirarlo in azione. Randeep Hooda forse non riuscirà a costruirsi una carriera sfolgorante come quella dei vari Khan, Kapoor o Kumar, ma la nicchia che si è ritagliato diventa ogni giorno più ampia, e lo stuolo delle sue fan ogni giorno più consistente. Come si può ignorare un uomo così? Perciò ecco qui, for your eyes only, il video del quarto episodio di Freaky Fridays dedicato a Randeep. E se non vi basta, segnalo anche l'intervista concessa dall'attore a Patcy N., pubblicata da Rediff il 21 febbraio 2014. I did not talk to Alia for the longest time: 

'You are quite a traveller and have travelled a lot for Highway.

I haven’t travelled extensively. For Highway, I travelled 2,500 kilometres by road. The experience was good. Every morning we would get up and travel to a new destination. The scenery was new, the clothing was different, the food was different, the feeling was different, and people were different in each place. When you travel by road, the etiquette of travel changes from state to state. Like people in Haryana and Punjab are very aggressive, people in Rajasthan are welcoming; people in Himachal Pradesh are so adjusting that they will wait for you to cross. I fell sick when I was in Himachal after I ate lots of pine nuts. A leader from Himachal came to meet us and she garlanded us with a pine-nut garland. I had not had lunch so I started eating it. I overate and was badly sick. I got altitude sickness too. Apart from that, the whole trip was well managed. (...) The stay and food arrangements were really good at all the places. Imtiaz himself is a foodie. He loves his food and still manages to stay so thin. Sometimes I would think that he selected a location to shoot because they served the food he likes (laughs).

Have you seen the telefilm on which the film is based?

I didn’t even know about it till much later, after the movie was shot. But I did get to see the picture of the two actors in the truck. The picture did not look the way the movie is. I didn’t think the male character in the picture looked anything like me, or what I played.

How different is your character from Alia’s?

When I read the script, I thought it was a requirement of the script that the two characters look poles apart. Alia and I both have a metropolitan upbringing. There is also a huge age gap. I think she is intellectually and emotionally more mature than me. It was very challenging to get the right look of the character that I play. I slept in the sun a lot to get the weather-beaten, leathery skin. I grew my moustache and beard, I stopped washing and combing my hair and applying any cream. I learnt the dialect of the Gujjar community, so when I speak it doesn’t sound like Hindi. I changed my voice a bit. When you see both the characters you should feel that they have nothing in common. That difference is very necessary for the script. India has two societies - of haves and have-nots. They are very different in every aspect - the way they deal with emotions is not the same. We have tried to get both these societies into Highway. Part of the film is about these two different classes of people, how they learn something from each other and get influenced by each other.

Alia Bhatt said you were a bit hard on her on the sets...

I did not talk to Alia for the longest time because in the film I don’t talk to her character and I am not very kind to her. I did not speak to her for 20-25 days. It’s only when we start interacting in the movie that I went and spoke to her. I did that because of two things: I was really trying to work on my character, and I wanted her to see me as Mahavir Bhatti (the character he plays in Highway) and not as Randeep Hooda.

What were your creative inputs in the film?

Every good director, when he casts an actor, writes the script or changes the script according to the actor. I am sure Imtiaz also did that. My character was well written. I didn’t improvise much. For all my movies I work on my character thoroughly, though sometimes I don’t get the script and sometimes I get the dialogues only on the sets. (...)

How come you are not typecast?

I don’t do conventional things like dancing and all. I pick things that are different and say no to scripts that are similar even if it’s for a big production house. It is important to keep filmmakers interested in you so they can offer you everything and anything. We actors are not given work on the basis of an audience poll; the filmmaker will cast you after seeing and liking your work. It is essential to do different kinds of films. There was a time in the past when I had no work. That time also I did not lose myself as an actor. (...)

Is your Polo team still functional? 

No, not yet. It is turning out to be far more expensive than I thought it would be. I have to do many more movies and still live in a rented house (to afford a functional polo team), which is not glamorous. But I have many horses. I cannot resist the temptation to buy a horse, that's where all my money goes'.

Vedi anche Berlin International Film Festival 2014