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Many faces of Rahul Bose

He's an actor, writer, rugby player and now a brand ambassador

GREAT COMBINATIONRahul Bose

He's a champion in whatever he does — a maverick actor and writer who's given Indian art house cinema a new metaphor; a rugby player; and an activist who worked for the tsunami victims in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Rahul, the brand ambassador for Titan's Xylys range of watches, has just brought back with him much critical acclaim from the Berlin Film Festival where Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Kaalpurush — Rahul's first Bengali film — featured in a special panorama.

"It's a moving film and I'm proud of the film and my work in it," he says. "The film is in the Satyajit Ray mould, not the kind you will stand up in the end and clap loudly for. It's gratifying to note that cinema and creativity can cross boundaries."

Rahul is now picking his films carefully. He's conscious of the women in his films and his role in their context. He's almost finished shooting his second Bengali film Anuronon.

He adds: "After White Noise, Chameli and 15 Park Avenue, there was a perception that I was happy playing the elegant prop to powerful actresses. So I carefully chose four films, each belonging to a different genre. In all of them I have a central role."

He's also doing something considered freakish by his standards. Pyar Ke Side Effects with Mallika Sherawat! It's a romantic comedy, he says. But why do something like that? "Because I've never done one. It's a Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan kind of romantic comedy. Witty, contemporary and clean."

But what he's really taken in by is Santosh Sivan's English film Kerala. A period film set in 1937, it's a story of friendship between a Malayali boy (Bose) and a British tea planter, who wants to build a road that will open the spice route to the village. "The greatest experience of my life is Kerala. But thankfully there are still some companies in Hollywood that make sensible cinema. American producers can be a nightmare. They have tremendous control over a film, unlike in India where the director calls the shots. So I dread it, the interference of producers," he says with wide eyes. But these guys were anything but the stereotype.

As a writer, he's back after a hiatus of four years (his first film was Everybody Says I'm Fine). He has now written The Whisperers, a two-man psychological thriller featuring him and Manoj Bajpai.

The big teacher

Rahul Bose is also the only actor in the world who straddles both the world of professional rugby and acting. And he's passionate about his game, which he considers a way of life: "It's the single biggest teacher of my life. It's taught me more than my parents; taught me humility and to be a team player. Essentially I'm a loner. It's taught me how to lose. It's taught me to have a hot heart and a cool head. It's a great combination." This year he will play in Germany, Belgium, India and then in England. "And that's if I make it to the Indian team again this year!"

At 39, Rahul has led quite a life. He was the creative director at Rediffusion, which he quit to act. He's won accolades for his acting and direction. He's extremely popular in international film circuits; Indians in the U.N. even organised a retrospective of his films recently!

Does he fear a burnout?

"I don't fear a burnout. I'll do something else then. I'll build a road in Rajasthan or something. I don't know."

BHUMIKA K.

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