Santosh Sivan is the Steven Spielberg of Indian cinema: 'Urumi' star Alexx O’Nell

Period film Urumi has been trending on Twitter. The multi-lingual film, directed by ace director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan, stars Genelia D’souza, Arya and Alexx O’Nell in the lead roles. The film has reportedly opened to rave critic and audience reviews down south.

O’Nell, who was recently seen in television reality show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and movies like Cheeni Kum and Loins of Punjab, plays the role of Vasco da Gama in Urumi. DNA caught up with the talented actor, who spoke about the film and what makes it so special.

What is Urumi about? How did you land the role?
Urumi is an epic drama about a boy who wants to kill the ‘great’ explorer Vasco da Gama. Indians hail Vasco da Gama as a hero, but in reality he was terrible man. And I’m not making this statement in thin air. In preparation for the role, I researched a lot about him, and found out that he did things only to satisfy his bloated ego and to assert power.

There’s a whole misunderstanding about him doing so much for his colonies, but the truth is completely different and that’s what Urumi explores.

Talking about bagging the role…well, it was meant to be (chuckles). I met Santosh Sivan in Madras when he was doing the post-production work of Raavan. Many meetings later, I found myself on the sets of Urumi. My role wasn’t as significant as it turned out to be. Initially I had only the role of Vasco da Gama. Vijay, the director of one of my previous films Madrassapatinam, as well as Sita Spada the heroine from another of my upcoming releases Na Voh Hoti Na Ye Hota, both recommended me to Santosh Sivan — and the result was a double role in one film and a triple role in a second one that Santosh and I made together.

How was working with a visionary like Sivan?
Sivan is the Steven Spielberg of Indian cinema. Being a cinematographer, he’s always looking at ways to make the film better. He gets everybody involved in the film. He got me to take classes in Portuguese, I wrote many of my own dialogues. So on the set I’d rattle off in Portuguese and no one ever understood what I was saying (laughs).

What about your fellow cast mates?
Arya is exceptionally talented as an actor. Genelia (D’souza), who plays a Muslim warrior princess, has shed her sweet girl image to perform daredevil stunts and also learnt martial art Kalarippayattu. All my co-actors are fabulous people to work with.

Can you elaborate on your role?
Da Gama came thrice to India, and on his third visit he died in Goa. Urumi is a take on history from the Indian perspective and the boy out to kill da Gama embodies a lot of what the culture at that time was.

Urumi is a flexible sword, which was the pinnacle of weaponry and skill during that time. It was so dangerous that the Britishers even banned it. The double edge makes it unsafe for both the fighters. While shooting Urumi, we also shot another movie  —Vasco da Gama in English, which has a different storyline but takes heavily from Urumi. In the English version, which has no love angle or song and dance, I play a modern day traveller. While making Urumi, Sivan felt there was so much matter that it could be incorporated into another movie altogether. So we started work on the English version which has some of Urumi’s characters but the story is different. It’s about a young boy on an exploration.

What are your future projects?
There is my upcoming Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak starrer Na Voh Hoti Na Yeh Hota in which I play an American whose Italian girlfriend is kidnapped in Bihar, and Shirish Kunder's Joker in which I play Akshay Kumar's professional rival. It also has Sonakshi Sinha and will release in February next year. Then I have Chittagong which is a period film based on the Chittagong armoury raid, which releases July or August this year. The English version of Urumi is also expected to release soon.

How different is your Chittagong from Abhishek Bachchan starrer Khele Hum Jee Jaan Sey which also looks at the same event in history?
Our Chittagong is a grittier tale of the 1930s robbery. It was a failed attempt at robbing the British armoury by young revolutionaries in Chittagong, which is in present day Bangladesh. I’m sporting short hair in the film, unlike in Urumi and Joker. The film also features Manoj Bajpai and Barry John. I play a bad guy. It’s minus the glamour factor that came with Khele Hum…

How difficult or easy is it to get roles in Hindi films with looks as unconventional as yours?
I think getting significant roles in films no matter where you are or who you are is exceptionally difficult. Making films is phenomenally expensive and you need to somehow convince the producer and/or director that you are not only a good investment in terms of what they pay you — but more importantly a good investment of the massive cumulative costs of the scenes you will perform. That means being a great performer, but also a professional and hard working individual. I compete with a smaller group of artist for a very small number of opportunities, and so when you compare that to a more conventional looking Indian actor who competes with a much larger group for a much larger number of projects, I suppose it kind of evens out...

 Does the luck factor play a part?
I've been lucky and luck is a huge factor in the equation. It's a matter of doing good work and people being willing to put their reputation on the line for you. For those of us who don't have family in the business, pulling strings for us and pushing directors to work with us, it's hard — but it's hard work that gets you success, and the same hard work that makes you deserve it.

What about the risks of getting stereotyped in roles, because of being a foreigner? Is there a risk?
Of course there is a risk. This is why when people ask me for advice I tell them that saying "no" is just as important as saying "yes". A film is a huge commitment and if you don't believe in it you won't do your best and if you don't do your best, then people won't trust you as a good investment in future projects. So yes, a reason to say no might be to avoid being type cast — for example if you've done an identical role in the past. Nevertheless, if there is some significant difference that you can latch onto, then it is your challenge as an actor to make those roles distinct and unique.

For example, about half the projects I've done have been period and half contemporary. If you can't play two characters differently in a historical context, then how can you be expected to do the same with two characters in a modern day context? The key is making sure that the characterisation isn’t one dimensional — ensuring that the character is believable and unique — then no matter how many similar characters you play, they will all have their own identity.
 
What do you think of Indian cinema as a whole?
As a foreigner I’m hopeful that Indian cinema is opening up to different stories, international stories, in which there are significant roles for non-Indians. I truly believe India is recognising the international interest it has garnered, and in response, the Indian film industry is beginning to make films with International casts, and international appeal.

The Hindi or dubbed version of Urumi will be released in Mumbai theatres later this month.