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Thursday, 1st May 2014, 03:00 PM IST Internationally acclaimed director Mira Nair made a 15-minute short film titled, ‘God Room’ that is a part of a collection called, ‘Words With God’ produced by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga. The film is a piece of a four-part project helmed by Arriaga titled ‘Heartbeat of the World’. This particular film, ‘Words with God’ looks at religion, another part called ‘Encounters’, explores sexual identity, the third one titled ‘Polis’ is based on politics while the fourth feature, ‘Into the Bloodstream’ is about drug addiction.
National Award winner Rajkummar Rao, features in Nair’s short film, along with other critically acclaimed actors Tanuja, Ram Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Richa Chadda and Naman Jain. The film revolves around an upper class family in Mumbai shifting to a fancy apartment and debating on which room should be the God room, informs the actor who has a designated pooja room in his own apartment in the city.
The film is scripted by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. Rao says it has only made his faith in God stronger. “But I’m more God-loving than God-fearing and not just a practising Hindu. I go to the gurudwara, to Mount Mary Church and Haji Ali,” he said.
Rajkummar who loves Mira’s film ‘Salaam Bombay’ and her ‘The Namesake’, and describes Irrfan Khan’s performance in the latter movie as an Oscar-worthy performance. He says he was surprised to get a call from Nair’s casting director. It was just five-six days work, but Rajkummar insists that it was an honour collaborating with the filmmaker. He speaks about his role, “It’s a good, primary role and I am proud to be part of a project that other world-renowned directors like Irans Bahman Ghobadi (his segment is titled-Kaboki ), Serbias Emir Kusturica (Our Life), Japans Hideo Nakata (Sufferings) are also associated with,” says he. He further added, “We spoke for an hour standing in the middle of the road. I’d love to work with her again, hopefully on a bigger feature. Her next project is about a detective in Kolkata, but since the protagonist is 40 years old, I don’t think Id fit the part (reportedly Irrfan has been approached for the role), he says. But we share a good rapport and I’m sure if she has something for me she’ll get in touch.”
He is currently in talks with a few international agents who have come to him with exciting offers. The actor revealed, “I’ve met a director from France and one from Pakistan. I can’t divulge their names but they’re big. They both have scripts for me. I’m reading them and trying to figure out my dates. Hansal is also working on two scripts and there is the screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller Revolution 20:20. But I haven’t zeroed in on anything yet. For the moment it’s just Mohit Suri’s love triangle with Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan,‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’ and Arbaaz Khans ‘Dolly Ki Doli’. Like Hansal I can’t do two films at a time.” |