Homeward bound

Damein has retained the Charlie Chaplin kind of humour,plus the flavour of the perplexities of an Asian family living in the UK as in the original. The only difference is that there are a lot more emotions and drama in the sequel.

What is your character George Khan’s most lovable characteristic?

Even though in the film the time gap is only five years,Khan will be more lovable in West Is West. He has mellowed down,he’s more understanding,and goes through a whole gamut of emotions as he takes his British son to his roots in Pakistan to instill these traditional values in him,with which he himself grew up.

Isn’t he too much of a blustering patriarch?

I don’t think there is anything wrong with George. He is not educated or articulate,and then there are situations like discovering that his oldest son is gay when he was set to get him married. That devastates him,and he decides to become more controlling.

How different are you from George as a father in real life?

I am very different. I may reprimand my son but I have never touched him,and I am not authoritative like Khan. I give Ishaan a lot of space to do his own thing.

Which film would you call the turning- point of your career?

Ardh Satya,without a doubt! It was like a lottery that opened up a whole new area for me. Before that I had done about seven films but it was after this one that I was noticed and that too by mainstream filmmakers.

With whom among the young directors would you like to work?

Vishal Bhardwaj,Dibakar Banerjee,Ashutosh Gowariker,Rajkumar Santoshi,Sanjay Leela Bhansali,Rajkumar Hirani and Vinod Chopra are some of them. But unfortunately,none of them have considered me for their films!

Hollywood or Bollywood?

I search for good parts. I don’t mind a small role as long as my character and the film excites me. Like I am doing a cameo of a typical Punjabi grandfather in Subhash Ghai’s Love Express,a film made by his students from his acting Institute.

What do you think went wrong with Teen Thay Bhai?

The film had a wonderful team of actors,like Shreyas Talpade and Deepak Dobriyal,but somewhere the script was lacking. The story became static and repetitive. The second half failed to hold the audience attention.

What kind of roles are you looking at today?

Since the last five years I have been doing light-hearted films,and I am presently working in another comedy,Bin Bulaye Baarati. I want to do some meaty parts.

Have you ever thought of turning director?

I would be good at directing actors,but I don’t think I have the required technical knowledge like lighting and camera angles,which are important for a director.

geety.sahgal@expressindia.com