If you live in that environment, you’ve got to be an optimist and an opportunist.
Was this your first trip to India?
I went when I was 10 years old, dragged along to a family wedding with my parents. I went to a small village that’s totally different to Mumbai and got bitten to death by mosquitoes. I remember turning to my sister and saying, “We’re not coming here again”. But filming in Mumbai, I literally fell in love with it. Going to the slums, where you see the world’s poorest people, you also see amazing acts of kindness. I was 17 and had a lot of pressure on my shoulders so it really did make me grow up quickly.
Were you familiar with the Indian culture before you went there?
I mean I’m familiar with the culture because of that’s the language that my grandparents speak, and my parents speak to each other. And of course the food I eat is from there. But to go to India and see the culture in its rawest, purest form is amazing. You find a piece of yourself out there. At the start, I used to walk the streets and stick out like a sore thumb, but it didn’t take me long to get into the flow of it.
Was the poverty in India shocking to you?
Well, that is a reality. But I think it highlights why people find my character so endearing, because he has this will to survive. It’s survival of the fittest at times, but he’s got this integrity. [Director Danny Boyle] explained it best: The character is tortured, he’s lost the girl of his dreams, but he still has this integrity to rise above it all. He’ll move mountains to get to this girl and that makes for an amazing story.
What was your experience of working with Freida Pinto?
It was great. I was lucky enough to help them audition the final round of girls. I was like a kid lost in candy shop! But the thing was, when Freida walked in the room, there was just something about her. She’s got this aura to her and we hit it off straight away. As Danny said, she’s got this grace about her – and a million-dollar smile. We were like two peas in a pod because it was the first film for both of us. We were really there to help each other and look out for each other on set. It was good to have her there because she’s a great tour guide. She’s really proud of where she comes from so she was showing me everything and giving me a detailed description of Mumbai which helped me get into character.
STAR MOVIES presents a ‘live’ telecast of the 81st Academy Awards on Monday, February 23 at 6.30 am with a primetime encore at 8.30 pm.
