Popular actor of Hindi films as well as TV serials- Alexx O’Nell, who is currently in Holland where he is working on a project, tells JYOTHI VENKATESH via email that he prefers to be known for his critical successes than A lister blockbusters that suck.
Tell me about your journey to India and your beginning with theater.
I began acting when I was really young, maybe 11 years old or so, in school and community and regional theatre -I did musicals as well as non-musical dramas and comedies up until around the age of 19. I loved theatre; you could say I grew up on stage, and back stage, and at cast parties. I was Danny in Grease, I was King Arthur in Camelot… i fell in love with Sandy and Guinevere.
I’m a shy person Jyoti- if I’m in a place and I don’t know anyone, I’ll likely be in the corner answering emails and doing various things looking busy but because I really have a hard time talking to people I don’t know. Once I’m introduced or if I already know someone, I let my guard down pretty fast. Without theatre I would have been a much lonelier kid.
Go on!
Though I studied acting at Boston University, I didn’t do much acting there – instead focussing on getting a degree in philosophy and a degree in psychology. I wrote a lot of music in university, but I didn’t really enjoy being there much, so I graduated a year early and quickly went on to work in a number of professions. For a while I had two full time jobs- until one of them (a US marketing company) promoted me to the position of Director of Operations and for that company I came to India to interface with our partners here. Of course, I brought a guitar along. While I was in India, I started doing ads and modelling assignments here and there and eventually my first films Loins Of Punjab and Cheeni Kum, as you mentioned, way back in 2007… Nach Baliye gave me a huge boost and ever since I’ve been pretty busy…
How did you bag Inside Edge?
Inside edge was an extremely interesting project to work on. I honestly believe it’s revolutionary for India and will (perhaps already has) usher in a new age of Indian mainstream entertainment. I remember at one point I hadn’t really been returning calls or messages, and the casting director tracked down my address (still not sure how) and came knocking on the door one afternoon… I kind of figured if they wanted me so badly I should just say yes… And I’m glad I did. I never really played cricket before so it was lovely learning about and playing the game, and I’ve never portrayed an Australian-so that was also a lot of fun. The stadium schedule was a rather difficult shoot thought – I was filming simultaneously for Inside Edge and Chandra Nandini (in the role of Alexander the Great) so there were days when I would shoot all night for Inside Edge in Pune and then all day for Chandra Nandini outside Mumbai. It was very exhausting.
What exactly is your role as Vice Captain Craig Litner in the web series Inside Edge?
Craig Litner is an Australian cricketer who has come to India to play in the powerplay league (like the IPL). He is a batsman, he is not an amazing player, but not bad. Each of the characters on Inside Edge is well written and intriguing, and Craig is no different. His introduction in the series is rather… bold… with a couple of cheerleaders in a hotel room, but despite being a bit kinky, he really is a good guy. I had a lot of fun playing Craig, and worked hard to get the accent right, even having a real live Australian (shout out to Emma) helping me out in the dubbing studio. People went crazy over the series – it released two months ago, and I’m still getting emails and messages telling me how much they loved inside edge.
How was it working with other actors in Inside Edge?
Vivek – I didn’t really work with him at all. Angad- nice guy but we didn’t interact much. Sarah-Jane is not just a fabulous actor, Sarah is also a musician – if you haven’t heard her sing- you must!. Richa is fabulous. This was my second time working with her, our first project together was Main Aur Charles. She is AMAZING, I always have so much fun every time we are together and she’s really a brilliant success story, she achieved what she achieved by talent, skill, and determination. We had a lot more to do together on screen in Main Aur Charles, not so much in Inside Edge, but I’m glad we got to spend some time together.
Raag Desh tanked at the box office. How was the experience working in it with Tigmanshu Dhulia as the director?
Honestly I don’t really keep track of how films do you commercially. I hear what people say and i see generally how long they stay in theatres. People that saw Raag Desh loved it. I’ve been in a bunch of films that were critical successes but didn’t stay very long in the theatres… Honestly I prefer that over A blockbuster that sucks. A film’s life doesn’t end when it leaves the theatre- Main Aur Charles, Chittagong, Urumi, I still get emails and messages from people that are just discovering these films now, Long after they closed at the box office. Television rights, airline rights, and yes-online piracy, make these films available to people for whom the theatrical exhibition was too short for them to catch it, or the distribution simply didn’t reach them at all.
How was it working with Ananth Mahadevan and Tannishta Chatterjee in Rakhmabai?
I met Ananth through Dr. Rakhmabai’s DOP Alfonse Roy; he was a DOP on Urumi and became a close friend during and after that shoot. He even shot one of my yet-to-released music videos. Ananth and I got along instantly – he is absolutely hilarious. I think Ananth regards himself as an artist who creates art for the sake of art, but by bringing to life stories like Rakhmabai, Gour Hari Dastaan, and Rough Book his films have inherent purpose and social relevance that is rare. I think that you’ll see Dr Rakhmabai is not just an artistically beautiful film, but a very inspirational one as well. Period films are exceptionally difficult because you need to control the environment, locations, clothing, everything meticulously but in this film you also see the characters Tanishtha and I portray aged to around 90 years old! Tannishta is one of my closest friends, and I’m also a huge fan of hers.
Your relationships with Shweta Keswani and Shama Sikander were doomed. Frankly what went wrong?
I don’t know if those relationships were necessarily doomed- while there are many things that I regret, I am thankful and feel truly blessed to have had both of these incredible women in my life. Sweta, an accomplished actress herself, helped me understand how to navigate the industry – (remember I was from theater), she inspired me to experiment in acting and business work, hell – she believed in me enough to dance with me on live television in front of the entire country – that takes a lot of faith. She was an amazing wife, supportive, positive and kind. She’s remarried now, has a beautiful daughter, and is living the life that she wanted. Although we’re not in touch, I’m happy that she is happy, and I will always want the best for her. Shama is the reason I was able to record an album, she not only produced, but also stars in the music videos. Nothing is impossible for Shama – she’s truly remarkable. She’s in a better place than she was when we were together – and knowing that is comforting to me. So, yes, both these relationships ended – and I’ll take the blame for them ending. I don’t think I was mature enough to be married when I was with Sweta. And I wasn’t smart or aware enough to know what an incredible woman Shama is. I’ll always be grateful to have had them in my life, and I will always love them both.
How do you manage to learn regional languages besides Hindi?
Well, I’ve done films in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Portuguese. Generally when I’m shooting anything that’s not in English I have someone coaching and practicing with me prior to shoot, and then assisting me on location, and finally there in the studio with me when dubbing is required (yes, I dub all my work regardless of the language). And I’m not ashamed to admit that I have help. So many things can take away from a performance, and while I’m sure I’m guilty of many mispronunciations throughout my career, I do my best (and get help when necessary) to render authentic dialogue delivery. I remember watching the film Valkyrie (2008) years ago. The film was fine, good even, but the entire performance of Tom Cruise was ruined for me because while he was portraying a German, he was speaking in a British accent… unacceptable. Urumi is actually a great example of how difficult it can be at times. I play a double role in the film (Vasco DaGama and his son Estavio DaGama) and both characters speak only in Portuguese… not only was it exceptionally difficult to find a native speaker of Portuguese, but the shoot location and conditions (Malshej Ghat, monsoon, mud up to our ankles) meant that bringing a dialogue assistant along would not have been possible. No one on the unit spoke Portuguese the final dialogue hadn’t been written. I hired a dialogue assistant, and wrote multiple dialogues that would work in each of the scenes in the screenplay, practised, practiced, practiced, recorded myself performing it properly, and consulted her remotely when required. For my Tamil dialogues in Madrassapattinam or my Hindi in Banarasi
Jasoos for example I had someone on helping me every step of the way.
What role do you play in the web series Bose?
Bose is an extremely ambitious endeavor with schedules in multiple countries. Also, as with Inside Edge, Bose is a Video On Demand project, this time for Balaji Alt. And as I was saying earlier, about films and their life beyond the theatre, I really love the fact that VOD projects have a life-cycle entirely different from film. There are accessible any time anywhere from the moment they release-and people can watch them where and when they like. If they’re not good, obviously, no one is going to watch them, but like I said, it’s been two months since release and I’m getting feedback from people who are just now finding the time to discover Inside Edge. I like the fact that I don’t have to worry that people will miss their opportunity to see Bose. I feel really lucky to have been a part of what I believe to be the two finest VOD projects yet done in India. This is the second time Rajkumar Rao and I are on a project together and both were period dramas – we worked together in Chittagong a few years back, and while we don’t have any scenes together in Bose, it was lovely catching up with him on location.
What is your role in Banaasi Jasoos?
I am perhaps even more excited; however, about Banarsi Jasoos this is the first feature film in which my dialogues are 100% in Hindi. It was certainly a challenge for us both. Banarsi Jasoos is a light-hearted whodunnit detective story that takes place in Varanasi. It was my first time working with director Pankaj Parashar who has since become a good friend, and there is no one who knows Varanasi better.
Which are your five best TV serials. Why?
Television is extremely difficult for me Jyothi… that’s not to say that I don’t respect the television industry and the people that work in it, but it’s an extremely exhausting process for me to be a part of for a number of reasons. Decisions are generally very last minute, scheduling is fluid, it’s a very high stress environment and it keeps you from taking advantage of other opportunities, and finally – pages and pages of Hindi dialogue that arrives while shooting is taking place – so there’s no time to prepare. For these reasons I’ve been extremely careful with what television projects I undertake. Most recently you would’ve seen me as Alexander the Great in Star Plus’s Chandra Nandini. Before that you may have seen me in Dhoondh Legi Manzil Humein on Star One, and I began my fiction television experience with Jhansi Ki Rani on Zee. Chandra Nandini I signed because I’ve always been fascinated with Alexander the Great. I hope that my performance showed that he was at times compassionate, extremely intelligent, strategically brilliant, and indeed an incredible personality who in many ways changed the course of history. I simply couldn’t have said “no” even though, as i mentioned earlier, the shoot was simultaneous with Inside Edge.I took on Dhoondh Legi Manzil Humein because the character was almost the opposite of what I had been playing in Jhansi Ki Rani. In DLMH, my character, Ralph, is the borderline abusive boyfriend of an NRI who has returned to India. Finally, Jhansi Ki Rani in which I played Robert Ellis, A character based on a real person who was torn between his duty to the East India company and his affection for the Indian queen of Jhansi. Lastly, I have to mention Nach Baliye – all these years later, people still remember and appreciate what Sweta and I did in 2007.
Which are your five best films? Why?
Maybe this is cheating but I’d rate Raag Desh, Yeti Obhijaan, Dr. Rakhmabai and Banarasi Jasoos, as my No 1 films, followed by Main Aur Charles, Urumi , an epic film in every sense of the word, Madrasapattinam : Its an absolutely beautiful love story. with stunning performances especially from Amy Jackson and Arya, which was the recreation of 1940’s Madrasapattinam with meticulous precision and lastly Chittagong, which also boasts wonderful career-starting performances by a number of actors who later achieved significant success: Vijay Verma of Pink and Raag Desh, Rajkummar Rao and Nawazuddin Siddiqui of … well everything these days, etc.
