Phillauri actor Suraj Sharma on Hollywood, Bollywood and living in Trump's America
Suraj Sharma made the most of his spring breaks at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Last year, he spent it shooting his Bollywood debut Phillauri, also starring Anushka Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh. This year, he spent a part of it to promote the film which included participating in the India Today Conclave.
“I wanted a film that bridges the Western idea of cinema or performance with Bollywood sensibility,” says Sharma who made his debut at the age of 18 in Ang Lee-directed Life of Pi. “Phillauri was perfect. It’s super Bollywood, commercial, entertaining, but at the same time it is very offbeat. ”
In Phillauri, Sharma, 24, plays a young man who, before he ties the knot with his sweetheart, is forced to marry a tree to address his "manglik" status. Soon he finds himself haunted by the ghost of Shashi (Anushka Sharma) who has resided in the tree for at least a century.
The film marks Suraj’s first attempt at comedy after starring in a spate of dramas such as Million Dollar Arm, Umrika and TV series Homeland. Suraj was all praise for the other Sharma, his co-star as well as his producer. “Anushka is fun to work with. If you do it differently, she takes it and throws it back at you with something more.”
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| Suraj Sharma in Life of Pi. |
Ask him if the work process in Hollywood and Bollywood are apart, Sharma says, “It may be an odd thing to say but I feel like the performance style in India is to take people with problems away from their problems, and in the West it is more to show people their problems. Bollywood performance is more emotive, the breaks and comedic timing are different. If there is a problem (on set), you can’t stop, they will make it work. (Here) They shoot much faster, the takes are fewer. Rehearsals are different too.”
That Sharma has taken to the change is proof of his adaptability as well as his interest in being a Bollywood actor. Said Sharma, “I feel like I want to try it. I’m open to it. I want to do different things and learn as much as I can.”
Away from home in Delhi for four years, Sharma may be in Trumpland but with the Big Apple as his base, he says he doesn’t feel the jolts of the administration which is facing a lot of flak for its anti-immigrant and refugee stance.
“The city is as far away from America as India is,” he says. “New York is not the city of Trump in any sense. It is a different place and culture. I feel I am insulated from all of it in a good sense. You are in an artsy kind of environment, you are constantly debating with the outside world.”
Studying in New York ,“a little bit of movie snob” has crept inside him, feels Sharma.
“Through screenings, debates and conversations, they are constantly breaking down every single thing they watch,” he says. But Sharma is always ready to defend Bollywood in front of his classmates who come from across the world.
“Some people would think that Bollywood is not as cinematically artistic,” he says. “But I don’t think that way. I think it has its own scene and way of telling a story; plus we add music and dance which gives it a wider scope. Bollywood is its own thing, it cannot be compared.”
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)