Interestingly, Smith has also worked with Alyque Padamsee, who played Jinnah in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, at an advertising agency, many years ago. Physically it was the opposite - I lost a lot of weight - a total of 14.5 kg in just over a month,” he reveals. There is much about Jinnah in the public domain - whatever I could get my hands on, I gobbled up. I also looked at footage of him, listened to his voice recordings and made an event timeline of his life. I did read Jinnah vs Gandhi by Roderick Matthews, Freedom at Midnight etc. “The book In The Shadow of the Great Game - The Partition of India by Narendra Singh Sarila, on which much of the film is based, was my primary source. On the other hand, with Partition: 1947 (the Indian title of Viceroy’s House), he had more time to prepare and research, and it was a completely different experience. There was no time to find a replacement, so Smith filled his shoes.
The actor originally slated for the part suddenly lost his brother three days before the beginning of a long tour to the US, and had to drop out. The 57-year-old actor has played Jinnah previously, in a 2006 Lillete Dubey play, Sammy, but back then he was called upon under tragic circumstances. The variables, which are many in India, are anticipated and minimised, thus saving time and money. Accountability is more and confusion less,” he explains. Most units come well prepared, and so do the actors. Filmmaking involves a lot of preparation, and by this I mean preproduction (before principal photography with the actors begins). However, management, process and discipline differ. “The actor’s craft remains the same, wherever or whoever one works with. It’s heartening that Bollywood has warmed up to actors of his ilk, but working on the sets of a film like Viceroy’s House must have certainly been a different experience. I too have changed in my approach to Hindi cinema,” the Brahman Naman actor says. The industry has changed, and has now opened up to new ideas, people and genres.
Or is it vice versa? “Everything must change. But with meatier parts and projects like Jagga Jasoos, Baadshaho, Aksar 2 and Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House (where he’ll be seen essaying the role of Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah), the industry finally seems to have recognised his capabilities.
#GANDHI MOVIE CAST JINNAH TV#
Most of the roles offered to him, like his appearances on TV shows like CID, stereotyped his characters according to his Anglo-Indian lineage. I could talk more about this, but it gives you an idea about the fact he was much bigger than a simple political figure.Denzil Smith has been a stalwart in Mumbai’s theatre circles for many years, but he hasn’t really received his due in the film industry. So, many people, even today, who are into voluntaryism and the non-agression principle, for example, have huge respect for Gandhi.
#GANDHI MOVIE CAST JINNAH FREE#
Sort of like a peaceful anarchism but, unlike other forms of anarchism, swaraj combined very naturally with free trade (he was pretty big into the idea of people being independent and free to carry out their trade without state interference, protectionism, etc.) For example, his concept of Swaraj, or self-rule, is often interpreted to mean Indian home rule, but the concept stretches much, much further than that, as it implies an absence of state, whether home-grown or foreign. He was also not just about national independence but about new systems of human interaction. People like Martin Luther King were very influenced by Gandhian principles, and pretty much anyone who is into civil disobedience at all. He used methods like non-violent civilian disobedience, which later became a huge thing in many other countries, including the US. Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing. Report Comments That Break Reddiquette or the Subreddit Rules. Serious On-Topic Comments Only: No Jokes, Anecdotes, Clutter, or other Digressions. Provide Primary and Secondary Sources If Asked. Write Original, In-Depth and Comprehensive Answers, Using Good Historical Practices. Questions should be clear and specific in what they ask, and should be able to get detailed answers from historians whose expertise is likely to be in particular times and places. Nothing Less Than 20 Years Old, and Don't Soapbox. Be Nice: No Racism, Bigotry, or Offensive Behavior.
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