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Casting the brown man: the “other” new wave
If ever I were to make an award speech for a role in one of my films, the first name I would take after thanking my parents and my first (and only, so far) acting teacher, Gregory Justice (who introduced me to acting), would be John Johnson. Then, I’d thank Danny Leiner (Harold & Kumar). Then I’d thank Bryan Singer (Superman Returns). And finally, I’d thank Bruce Leddy.
Why would I want to thank the director of Harold & Kumar of all movies? And Bruce Leddy who?
There’s been a lot of discussion on PFC about the refreshing “new wave” that’s taking Indian cinema by storm. So far, the take on this “new wave” has been up and coming filmmakers who dare to think out of the box with respect to writing kickass stories and screenplays, stylizing the art of storytelling, and taking on the mammoth system that is… THE STUDIO.
But but but… the “new wave” ain’t just Indian anymore. That’s right. Newsflash! Why does the new wave have to be just about stories, screenplays, stylized storytelling and making films outside the studio? Why not those who dare to think outside the box with casting their actors? This new breed of individuals doesn’t give two shits about the colour of the skin. They are daring to say “hey, we know he’s South Asian, but he gave a damn good audition, and I’m going to cast him in a non-South Asian role, dammit!”
And that’s why I present to you John Johnson, Danny Leiner, Bryan Singer, and finally, Bruce Leddy.
Thank you John, for casting me in Alucard, a modern-day re-telling of Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula. I don’t know what you saw in me, but I sure as hell hope I did the role of Arthur Holmwood justice. The role asked for English royalty, and I was but a brown man with an acting resume that didn’t exist at the time and a polaroid for a headshot. Yet you chose to go against the trend. Hats off to you.
Thank you Danny Leiner, for taking Kalpen Modi and John Cho in Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle. You showed Kalpen without a turban, without an accent, and not as an engineer, doctor, cab driver, or a convenience store clerk, but an average party boy who loves to get stoned and go out on adventures with his Asian friend. You showed John as another average person who could’ve been just about anybody and not a stereotype. You could’ve chosen a couple of white dudes like Ashton Kutcher and Sean William Scott. Yet you chose to go against the trend. Hats off to you.
Thank you Bryan Singer, for taking Kalpen in a very different role… this time as a villain, and that too, in a HUGE studio movie, Superman Returns. Doesn’t get bigger than that, does it? When anyone else would’ve chosen a more “thuggy” actor, you chose to go brown. You may have given him only one line, but at least you gave him that line. Most would’ve not even thought about taking a South Asian as Superman’s enemy. Yet you chose to go against the trend. Hats off to you.
And finally, Bruce Leddy. This is your weekend man… enjoy it! You made this film Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace with the hilarious Molly Shannon from Saturday Night Live and an otherwise white ensemble cast. But you dared to be different, and plopped Samrat Chakrabarti, a South Asian, as Will Wozniak. And last I heard, Will Wozniak ain’t no Indian name. Anyone else in your shoes would’ve tried to offset the white balance with a black man. Yet you chose to go against the trend. Hats off to you.
Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace is finally coming out in theaters in NY, NJ, MA and CA THIS WEEKEND!
Winner of 7 film festival awards including Best Feature/Audience Award at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, the film is a comedy/drama about a group of guys who sang in a college a cappella group together and are reuniting 15 years later to sing at a friend’s wedding. The experience gives them the opportunity to re-examine their lives and discover how they have progressed — and in some cases regressed — since their college heyday. (Source: prweb)
From what Samrat has told me, it has a limited theatrical release, which means if it does well opening weekend then it has a chance to screen at many other theaters across the country. So please do South Asian actors a favor, and go watch this film, and if you’re not in one of the cities that’s screening it, please tell people that are. Apparently it’s all about seeing the film on the opening weekend, so if you can, check it out on April 27th, 28th, or 29th. Weekdays don’t mean a thing unfortunately.
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P CITY CINEMAS VILLAGE EAST CINEMAS, NEW YORK, NY
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P LANDMARK KENDALL SQUARE, BOSTON, MA
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P MUSIC HALL THEATER, BEVERLY HILLS, CA
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P CLAIRIDGE CINEMAS, MONTCLAIR, NJ
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P ROSYLN THEATER, ROSYLN, NY
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P PASADENA PLAYHOUSE, PASADENA, CA
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P WESTPARK 8, IRVINE, CA
Apr 27, 2007 7:00P CINEMA 100, WHITE PLAINS, NY
Trailer:
[youtube]hEYGwR0zUjU[/youtube]
Here’s to you, John, Bryan, Danny, and Bruce. The “other” new wave. =D>
23 Responses to “Casting the brown man: the “other” new wave”
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Thanks STRIKER for sharing this with everyone…
As you know I have a strong emotional creative bond with SAMRAT CHAKRABARTI http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1589782/ - we did our first main film together - his acting debut, my directorial debut - ARYA. Very proud of this guy.
And I agree, times r a changin’ - hopefully more and more directors will cast actors like u and samrat and kal penn in such diverse roles.
JMD - Manan Singh Katohora
Hey how can you forget WES ANDERSON. The guy with the best sense of humor making films. he is not even 35 i think & he has already made 5 great films.
He always has Kumar his yoga guru in all his films. Kumar is hilarious in their first film together BOTTLE ROCKET. Its a great film.
And then the Sardar Sound Guy in LIFE AQUATIC.
Kal Penn didnt do that good as i expected him to do in NAMESAKE. But I would blame Mira for that. Esp in that scene when he is listening to PEARL JAM & how he reacts to his dad who presents him a book.
i think KAL was brilliant in THE NAMESAKE…
especially the car scene with his dad
and the whole climax…
JMD - Manan Singh Katohora
mainak, thanks for the info on wes anderson.. i’ve heard of him but never seen his movies, so i just watched the trailer for “bottle rocket” and it was hilarious!! gonna put this on my q..
also, i guess i should’ve specified in my post that part of the reason these directors are cutting-edge is because they’re choosing to take brown actors in lead roles (or equivalent). from what i watched in the trailer of “bottle rocket”, i saw a 1-second glimpse of a brown man. and he’s not even in the main credits.. so i’m not sure how big of a role he has in the movie, but will watch it regardless. thanks for bringing wes to my attention :)
Striker - great post. I love the fact that casting is (very slowly) becoming more color blind. I always felt that pop culture reflects the impact/presence of a community. The Asian community started getting represented in ads and films many years ago, since they were larger and more visible. It is not happening with South Asians. I hope as other filmmakers see these examples, they also become more color blind.
sahi rei….and the Oscar goes to….Striker…
Harold and k is one of the best comedies to come out dude..any day….and yeah thanks for casting Kal and John as average joe.
Wonderful post. Ravi Kapoor is another actor who has been able to play pretty significant roles in Gideon’s Crossign and Crossing Jordan. He even directed a couple of espisodes of Crossing Jordan. And he’s brilliant on stage. For me, Ravi Kapoor is the best actor of South Asian descent on this side of the globe. He is just phenomenal and I really hope in this promising era of color-blind casting, that he gets his due.
Also, don’t forget the insane Jay Chandrasekhar!
hehe.. well, jay just casts himself in his own movies, so i didn’t quite count him.. but thanks for bringing up ravi kapoor. i guess naveen andrews would be another one.. and thanks to the producers of “lost” for that!
Actually, I just realized that all the examples are men. South Asian women actors probably still have a ways to go… Quite sad. From the few female actor friends I have, I think they are still getting declined for non-brown roles. They are being considered for middle eastern roles, if they are on the lighter side of the spectrum. Here’s hoping more directors break down this divide too.
Good stuff Striker. I think slowly but surely Indian actors/technicians are gaining a foothold in mainstream cinema. Here in N. America we’re not exactly at the level of the UK where u can’t flip the channels on the TV without seeing Om Puri or Saeed Mirza or one of 100’s of British-Indian actors on one show or another.
Mainak bhai, as for Kal Penn in “The Namesake”, I thought his performance was restrained and real. He underplayed his part very well. I loved the scene when his white girlfriend comes to his fathers mourning, and is trying to get him to “get away from all this”… “I don’t WANT to get away” followed soon after by “This isn’t about YOU”… that scene could’ve easily been overdone, if not but slightly, but Kal Penn handled it with a lot of poise giving it both the scene and the character the dignity and maturity required.
Another sequence which he excelled in was the trip to India. The interplay between himself and his sister with the whole “manual air conditioning” and the expression on his face when riding the bus back were just great.
So yeah in short Kal Penn, you ROCK buddy!
Hey Shripriya, Mallika Sherawat is doing that Hollywood film “Unveiled”, doesn’t that give you oodles of encouragement? ;P
shripriya, yeah.. it’ll take some time.. so far, really only parminder nagra has made it onto ER.. but that’s in a typical south asian doctor role. there was also sheetal sheth in “looking for comedy in the muslim world” by albert brooks but i’m not sure how big her role in that was.. if there are others, i don’t know about them unfortunately :( it’ll change.. slowwwly….
@ Tony - haha!
@ Striker - forgot about Parminder. Despite it being traditional, still a meaty role! A friend, Anna George had a small part in Syriana. But the entire story thread was cut in editing. She’s really cool though!
Tony I also liked that manual air conditioning scene. NAMESAKE was a very personal film for me. I got very emotional while watching it. But I was also aware that its not a great film. Most of the stuff was predictable. Sometimes over the top. The sister was way over the top. Or maybe she was like most indian kids who are born here. But again it was a case of not feeling for the characters. Except for the parents. Esp Irfan Khan was brilliant. I hope he gets a lot of roles in World cinema now. He might be more known in this world than Shah Rukh.
Kal Penn was ok. He is capable of much better stuff I feel. But he needs to be directed well. I even felt bad for his white girlfriend. She was just trying to be helpful. And the shot where she takes off her jacket in the funeral was just way over the top cliche’. Come On MIRA. We know you are million times better than that.
But overall I enjoyed the movie. I missed my mom & dad immensely. Called my mom right after the film. Magic of cinema. Even the not good ones can make you weak.
Jay Chandrashekhar is awesome. He is one of the Mentors in the FILM INDEPENDENT Mentorship program. He supports the minority community in hollwyood.
******
Striker watch all of WES Anderson’s films. He just finshed shooting his latest film in India. Its called The Darjeeling Limited. But watch them in the order. Start with Bottle Rocket then RUSHMORE, then THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS & LIFE AQUATIC. Kumar has a big role in TENENBAUMS. He owned a coffee shop in texas where Wes used to hang out.
he is the old indian guy in THE TERMINAL.
Yeah Mainak Namesake was a personal film for me too… The house they lived in was alot like the house I spent my childhood it. It was a haunting feeling watching some of the interactions between characters, I found they were pretty close to reality.
Yes I totally felt for the parents. Man, by far the best written scene in the film is early on when Tabu wants to go home, she doesn’t want to live in such a lonely place, and Irfan explains that they must live here to give their kids a great future (the reason why 99% of parents stay in foreign countries). I’m glad that they didn’t show Kal Penn as a total ingrate… like that scene where he does end up visiting his parents on the way to holiday with his girlfriend.
I dunno, I liked it. I could relate to it. Seen way too many kids out here who don’t totally respect the sacrifices their parents have made for them.
“Called my mom right after the film. Magic of cinema”
Yeah man, I missed my Dad too… thank God he just lives upstairs.. lol…
Oh, and yes, Irfan was awesome. Wow. My wife commented that its pretty rare in Hindi cinema that you truly miss a character after their onscreen death. You don’t really miss them. In this case you really miss Irfan after he’s gone, all thanks to a very well written and incredibly well acted performance. Natural to the core.
One of few characters you miss once their gone… Shashi Kapoor from Silsila was another…
@Tony “My wife commented that its pretty rare in Hindi cinema that you truly miss a character after their onscreen death.”
Wow that is an awesome point bhai…never even thought about it….even in Chandni Bar….
@tony ur wife got it bang on right..
people have been raving on about tabu’s performance.
while irfan has been on the ‘yeah he was good too’ list.
wherein even saying that he was AWESOME is more of an understatement
Its the other way around….
IRFAN khan Was perfect….
Tabu was good too!
irrfan was flawless in the namesake.. his performance goes beyond what words could describe. namesake was worth watching for him and him alone. and yes, “tabu was good too”
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