Paan Singh is a comment on the country: Irrfan Khan

New York: Irrfan Khan is one of India’s finest actors, who’s played everything from cult figures to cold killers. It’s a slew of different roles that have really made Khan a household name: as Maqbool in Vishal Bhardwaj’s moody Macbeth adaptation, as upwardly mobile Indian immigrant engineer Ashok Ganguly in Mira Nair’s Namesake_; as the police inspector in Oscar-winning_ Slumdog Millionaire_. They’re all different roles, of course, but they have something in common: they require an actor who can convey unwavering belief._ Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle said Khan has an instinctive way of finding the “moral centre” of any character. Sure enough, Khan again finds the pulse of his nuanced character in the new Paan Singh Tomar biopic. Khan plays the gifted Rajput steeplechase champion turned dreaded Chambal dacoit. Paan Singh was India’s steeplechase champion for seven years, the record holder for the ~3,000 km~ 3,000 m steeplechase event in 1958, a soldier and a struggling farmer before he stalked the Chambal ravines. Paan Singh’s larger-than-life story was obviously begging to be turned into a movie. On the eve of the release of his latest film, Khan talks to Uttara Choudhury in New York about how he slipped into Paan Singh’s fascinating world and how it stretched a lot of his muscles. Excerpts: You have come alive playing so many great characters but would you say that in Paan Singh Tomar you have picked a classic movie role and the audience will respond to both the film and the character? If I hadn’t done Paan Singh at the end of my life I would have felt my acting career was incomplete. There is something very pertinent about Paan Singh. The role was etched so well that it was easy to slip into his emotional world. [caption id=“attachment_230308” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“I loved Paan Singh’s world and didn’t mind living in that space for a long time. He became an inspirational character. Image courtesy: UTV Motion Pictures”] [/caption] Would you describe Paan Singh as an anti-hero? He ran against the grain and was pushed to adopt an anti-establishment attitude. That was something heroic about him. He didn’t compromise. He fought for his passion; he fought for his love for the country. He had disappointments. But, he also had a rare kind of dignity in his fight which was attractive. The world of Indian villages is different and hard to comprehend for city folk. Their values and honour code is different. Paan Singh was a subedar in the Indian army and a national champion in steeplechase for seven consecutive years, yet his elder brother who was more resourceful and powerful, manipulated him and took his land. Despite his achievements as an Indian athlete, Paan Singh struggled as a farmer and didn’t get any help from the system. His mother was unwell and his son was threatened. So, Pann Singh resorted to the two things he knew: how to use a gun and how to run. He picked up his gun and ran into the ravines of Chambal and created his own world. As an actor you have to find the emotional core of any character, even if you are playing Hitler. Paan Singh to me is not just a grey character but a comment on the country. What does it say when a family or country doesn’t respect talent? A healthy country respects its athletes. Paan Singh didn’t get the respect that should have come his way and became a rebel. When you play a character, you “stay in character” for professional reasons, but I loved Paan Singh’s world and didn’t mind living in that space for a long time. He became an inspirational character. To prepare for this role, apparently you trained so rigorously with steeplechase coaches, that you broke your ankle. Was this the most physically and mentally demanding film of your career? It was just an accident. I play sports regularly so I didn’t have to really condition my body for this role. It wasn’t something new. However, I trained with a professional Russian coach to master the finer points of steeplechase which is an obstacle race with barriers and jumps. Shooting was tough because of the accident. I had to wait for my ankle to heal and then we did all the running scenes in one stretch so I never got time to recover. That was tough. Sometimes my legs felt like wood! They would become stiff and it would take me five minutes to get up if I sat down, but I like challenging my body. When you do it successfully, you like yourself. I like that feeling of pushing your body to its limits. The film has some intense love-making scenes. What was it like shooting the intimate scenes? In these scenes as an actor you have to be sensitive to your co-actor’s feelings. Your body cannot lie. When you touch somebody you know if they are not comfortable. Then the whole thing goes for a six because you have to pretend. Pretense is too painful in these scenes. You have to have a comfort zone where you can trust. You are in a moment because you want to create some movie magic for the audience. The love-making scenes in this movie were tough because I was playing a person from rural India. How would someone like Paan Singh approach his wife? How would he woo her and be successful in making love to her? It was foreign and made me think and get into new territory so it was challenging. Director Shekhar Kapoor drew a very sympathetic portrayal of Phoolan Devi in The Bandit Queen and solidified his reputation on it. Do you think Paan Singh Tomar will resonate in the same way? Phoolan Devi was a notorious woman. Everyone knew she was a terror. Shekhar Kapoor just drew out a different aspect of Phoolan Devi by putting her whole life into perspective. Every director needs to find the nucleus of the story according to him. It is very personal. Why is Paan Singh’s story so important? It is not because he picked up a gun. The movie is not about that but exposes the system in the country. Bandits exist in India for whatever socio-economic reasons. This story is contemporary and topical. You have already had great festival play at the British Film Institute London Film Festival. Will the film do as well at the box office? Who knows? There is one thing, however, I can tell you. People will remember this film. I believe that this film will have a shelf life. I think it will stick around and people will watch it and enjoy it. Continues on the next page There is a brilliant anti-establishment musing in the gritty movie. When a journalist asks Paan Singh why he became a dacoit? He retorts saying, “There are tigers in Chambal, dacoits are found in the Parliament." Do you like working in independent cinema which quite often is anti-establishment? I like stories which speak to me. They could be about the system, or against the system or for the system. But there should be something shareable. It could be a big studio film or a small budget independent film. Did you ever imagine that you would get so many film offers from Bollywood, Hollywood and independent film makers? When I dreamt of becoming an actor I wanted to touch the sky. I am still very far from that. I need more power and viability to get the directors I want to work with. Sometimes you can be part of the story but you can’t be the lead. I work hard at my craft so that I can be more viable. There are movies that sometimes don’t come your way because your market value is not considered that big. But I do feel fortunate in getting good work from different industries. In Hollywood, the story-telling is different. I enjoy working with a director who has a completely different take for a particular story. You become a child in front of the director. I fall in love with my directors. They hold my hand and show me a world which is thoroughly engaging. You may have your constants, but you’re always looking to go into new territories and new challenges. So that’s how it is for me as an actor. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan attacked Slumdog Millionaire for portraying India as a ’third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation.’ Do you think this was valid criticism? No, I don’t think so. The reality of India is many things and you have to be in touch with that. How can you not share it? You can’t hide it. It is a cancer. It has to be exposed. Why shy away? There are so many great things about India and yet there are so many flaws in the system. You have incredible onscreen intensity and interpret your characters with great intelligence. Are you as brooding and intense off camera? No, I hate brooding. I hate being serious. Those things are incredibly boring. I like fun, I enjoy lightness, and humour. When people ask me what I find most attractive in a woman, it is lightness; someone who takes things lightly, not frivolously. Unnecessary seriousness just bores me! Of course, when I get a part, I play a part and try to play it well. The beauty of movie magic is that I get to play characters with complicated lives very far removed from my own life, which is not complicated at all.