CINEMA

Actors never know truly who they are

65devpatel Dev Patel | Getty Images

British director Danny Boyle had a good hunch when he cast 18-year-old Dev Patel, a Brit with Indian roots, for the leading role of Slumdog Millionaire nine years ago. The movie won the Oscar in 2009 and Patel paid back his good fortune—and Boyle’s intuition—with a brilliant film career.

Patel is now headlining Lion, next to Nicole Kidman, an acclaimed movie with many Golden Globe nominations under its belt and a favourite at the Academy Awards. Directed by Garth Davis, the film is based on the autobiographical novel A Long Way Home. Excerpts from an interview:

To what extent do you identify with Saroo in Lion?

He’s indeed a character I can see myself, as in a mirror. While growing up I spent a good amount of time trying to shake off my ethnic/cultural identity in order to blend in, in Britain; I didn’t want to be roughed up, therefore I didn’t intend to stand out. I would do whatever to be as anybody else in the UK. Saroo did the same in Australia.

But then something happened along the way: you went to India.

Exactly. I went to India with Danny Boyle to shoot Slumdog Millionaire. It was the first time for me, and the proverbial light bulb went off: all those clichés I had in mind about India were immediately subverted. Since then I went back to India many times, and I shot there five films—including the just wrapped Hotel Mumbai—and I’m having a love affair with my India. As Saroo, I too, as a young man, tried to play down my own history to blend in. But I never had to look for my biological mother. My mom is an overbearing biological one!

Saroo finds his roots thanks also to Google Map, smartphones, apps, and so on. What’s your relation with technology?

I’m not technologically very advanced, I swear! I’ve never been on My Space and I don’t have a Facebook page. Yes, I spend a lot of time in front of a computer as an actor, on Newsroom for example. But in real life I’m not a geek at all.

Lion is also a great love story, between mother and son, isn’t it true?

Of course, and it doesn’t matter what kind of loving mother she is. While Saroo wrestles with his past, his adoptive mother [Nicole Kidman] feels an unconditioned type of love for him and she says: “I always wanted you... and whatever you will decide to do, I will always be there for you.” She also says, “I can’t wait for your mother to see what a great man you became!” Wow, this is the most beautiful type of love you’d ever encounter.

What did you learn from Nicole Kidman?

I was in awe of her focus and total abandon to her character: on the set Nicole was Sue Brierley, Saroo’s adoptive mother; and to me she wasn’t much different from the real Nicole: she’s also both a biological and adoptive mom. And I’ve seen with my eyes how she’s with her kids: she’s a real, loving, wonderful mom.

Do you feel more Indian or British?

A citizen of the world, to say the truth. My genetic makeup is cosmopolitan. I’m very open minded, and open to everything that comes my way. And yet there’s always something that forces me to constantly search for myself. It might be because I’m a natural born actor. Actors never know truly who they are, they live through their characters. I ask them to be just themselves, they’re lost!

How do you choose your projects?

I choose the stories that I know my mom would love to see! That’s what I thought when I first read the script for Lion. My mother works as a social aide at an assisted life facility for elderly people, and when I did the first Marigold Hotel, I already knew so well that world, because when I was young I used to spend a lot of time at that facility with my mom. I always loved older people. And I would look at my mom dealing with them and think: “Wow, mom, you’re a real star... The way you take care of these people—many with dementia—is awesome.” I was lucky I could take my mom to the Lion premiere in London: she was gleaming.

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