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Magazine
‘I am a multi-layered actor’
ZIYA US SALAM
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Satish Kaushik, used to doing comic roles, is appreciative of the opportunity he got in “Brick Lane” to put in a head-turning performance.
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Photo: Joss Barrat
Room for complexity: Kaushik as Chanu in “Brick Lane”.
A little before Satish Kaushik signed Sarah Gauron’s film “Brick Lane”, based on Monica Ali’s bestseller, the charitable would have politely smiled at his prospects of playing the lead. More than plump, less than handsome, and
unexplored territory when it comes to acting. Principally a director who had merely dabbled in bits and pieces comic roles, Kaushik had never before played the leading man in a Hindi film back home. The more frank ones would have pointed to his, well, less than heroic appearance: dark in complexion, prosperous around the belly, receding hairline, no rippling muscles. And an acting track record that began and ended with comic roles. All of them were good enough to keep the kitchen fire burning, nothing more.
Among his competitors to play the hero, Ali’s Chanu, were the likes of Irrfan, Pankaj Kapur and Boman Irani, all proven purveyors of the craft. Naturally then, Kaushik was a shade apprehensive about his chances of bagging the key role opposite the talented Tanisshtha Chatterji. “I was asked to undertake a screen test. They probably were not sure how I would react because I had been taking screen tests of other actors as a director for a couple of decades. I said I didn’t mind. I know there is a certain method in casting and went through the tests as a professional. I am a trained theatre actor and I read a lot. So, playing a character from Monica Ali’s book was no problem. It was a challenge I undertook to stoke up the actor in me. The fire had been burning for a long, long time.”
Victim of typecasting
The sense of hurt is apparent as Kaushik reveals that like most others, he too has been a victim of typecasting in Bollywood. “All the directors tend to think of me only as a comedian here. I have been typecast right from the time of Calendar (in “Mr India”). But whatever roles I have played, I have brought a genuine warmth, a sincere appreciation of the circumstances, the milieu of the character. Here in “Brick Lane”, Sarah and others were a little worried whether I would be able to carry off a serious, complex character. The role of Chanu is multi-layered. One moment he is pompous, he is arrogant, the next moment he is tender, only to be cruel the next. He is not supposed to be handsome, he is past his prime but well read. There is something unattractive about him. Hailing from Bangladesh, he has been in the U.K. for 30 years but has not found great acceptance. So he creates his own alternate world. There are so many shades to Ali’s character, many of which had to be expressed without the spoken word, with a focussed body language. For me the role was like that of Mother India!”
Little wonder, when the film was screened at the recent Toronto Film Festival it sent the international audience into raptures. “I was named among the six new faces of cinema to watch out for. There were actors from Israel, France and Spain too. So that was a heady feeling. Now the film is scheduled to be screened for the British royalty in a few days’ time. It will be followed by an international release by Sony Pictures in November. In the U.K. alone, they are coming out with around 150 prints. It is truly a Hollywood production.”
Among those who have fallen in love with Kaushik’s craft is none other than Monica Ali herself. “She is a wonderful person. She came down to the screening, we had dinner together. She agreed with the nuances I brought to the character. With her words of appreciation, I got my due as an actor.”
Talking of international audiences, isn’t Kaushik happy that cinemagoers are beginning to appreciate the subtleties of Indian cinema beyond the customary bump-and-grind routine of Bollywood?
“People are beginning to open up to different kinds of cinema. They realise we have stories to tell, touching tales to narrate. We are a people with history and culture in our blood. And we are very emotional too. And whatever language you speak human emotions remain universal.”
Multiple layers
Is that the reason why “Brick Lane”, whose script has been penned by Abi Morgan and Laura Jones, is making heads turn every where?
“It is a multi-cultural story, a story of immigrants, but importantly a story told from the perspective of women. It is an Asian story, the journey of an Asian woman, her rise from being a simple village girl in Bangladesh to being married to a much older man in the U.K., and her struggle to establish an identity of her own in the new place.”
Already, Kaushik, who has films like “Milenge Milenge” and “Tere Sang” lined up for release under his directorial baton, has started feeling the winds of change.
“Yes, ever since I have come back, the media has started taking note of me. Things are changing. The other day seasoned director Sudhir Mishra promised me a role in his next film. The recognition is very soothing for me. Now I can tell the world I am a multi-layered actor, not just a comedian.” And not just a director of films like “Tere Naam” and “Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai”.
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