When British actor Daniel Caltagirone signed on for Thangalaan, Pa. Ranjith’s film starring Vikram, Malavika Mohanan and Parvathy Thiruvothu, it was supposedly for a three-month project. “Then it became a bigger vision for Ranjith, and I just kept going along for the ride,” says Daniel, who spent close to a year in India for the shoot.
Gold casting
“I know Ranjith was a bit discombobulated about getting in a British actor, because of the process of venturing into new territory to scout for good actors and whether they would put up with the conditions the shoot required. I was the first person he approached and we had a long chat,” says the actor. “He realised I was an adrenaline junkie and had also seen my CV which showcased the big Hollywood, award-winning films I had worked in. I realised quickly that it was not the kind of role white actors living in India and working in Bollywood films would do; I also learnt that my part was almost a parallel lead to Vikram.”
Daniel Caltagirone and Pa Ranjith on the sets of ‘Thangalaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Though this is Daniel’s first Indian film, it was not his first time working with an Indian director. “I did Hollywood films with Shekhar Kapur(The Four Feathers) and Tarsem Singh (The Fall). I’m not an expert on Indian cinema, but every time I tuned in to an Indian film and there was a British actor, I would laugh out loud because of the bad acting, or how the role would be so clichéd that it was awful,” says Daniel.
“Halfway through the shoot of Thangalaan, RRR came out and the white characters were again portrayed in a clichéd manner. I spoke to Ranjith, and he explained how these stories are India-centric and the idea was to bring in an English actor to portray a British colonialist. There might have been some great performances by British actors in earlier such films, but what Ranjith has done with my role is something quite different.”
Clichés, chaos and courtesy
The homework started even before reaching the shores of India for Daniel. “I was told that my character was loosely based on someone who I cannot name right now, but it’s an ex-army soldier who went to the gold fields to discover gold. Ranjith wanted me to keep that aspect of the role in the back of my head. This character is an outsider; he comes from his own British class structure as he’s a high-ranking officer who is also probably Irish. And the Irish have their own class structure, similar to the caste system and as a part of that system, he’s trying to better himself.”
Daniel Caltagirone on the sets of ‘Thangalaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“There was a lot of research and I learnt a lot about colonialism and the effect it has to this day. I didn’t want my character to come across yet again as a clichéd British officer, so I tried to make him rough around the edges. Fundamentally, he’s not a bad person. He’s a good man who wants to do well for his family; he and Thangalaan are different sides of the same coin. Recently, Vikram was telling me how there are no good people in this film. We’re all bad and that was really interesting,” says the actor who chooses the words “controlled chaos” to define an Indian film production.
“It was crazy; there were massive speakers to hear what the director was saying and hundreds of people were running past me. Fans would turn up to watch the shoot and it’s such a different approach to what I’m used to. It was visceral and exciting,” says Daniel, who was also surprised by the amount of research the Thangalaan team had done on him.
“I was blown away by the respect they gave me and the way they made me feel at home. In the West, it’s more about the big actors, but here they really believe in the actor’s artistry. Other parts of the world, they would ask me about the F.R.I.E.N.D.S cast or working with Jennifer Aniston or Leonardo DiCaprio. But here, they were discussing The Pianist with me, and not about working with Angelina Jolie!” (laughs)
Indian cinema on the cusp of going international
The actor, who has worked with filmmakers like Danny Boyle and Roman Polanski, says the Indian film industry is at the cusp of its most exciting era. “Indian cinema is about to become the most powerful film industry in the world. You’ve got amazing talent, amazing directors, great storylines and it’s vivid, colourful and exciting,” exclaims Daniel, adding that he still feels Indian films miss an international essence.
“The moment the Indian film industry goes international, Hollywood will be in trouble because we’ve lost our cinema there. We rely on streaming mainly, while you have (theatrical) cinema and as long as that’s retained, it can turn into a powerful industry that no one can match.”
When Ranjith reminded Daniel of filmmaker Spike Lee
Circling back to Thangalaan, Daniel has no qualms in accepting that it took him a few days to settle down on the set. “I’m more of a naturalistic actor, but Ranjith wanted something more, which I found to be over-the-top. We had a lot of back and forth and I was getting very frustrated. But then one day, he made me look at the monitor where I noticed my acting was not registering amongst the other actors’ heightened acting. Something clicked that day and I was able to up the ante,” says the actor who had to “counterbalance many things.”
Daniel Caltagirone | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“I just got lucky because I had amazing co-stars. Pasupathy was just wonderful, gentle, generous and funny. Parvathy is a brilliant actor while I just clicked immediately with Malavika. Vikram and I became very close; he liked my style and I respect and like how he worked. Apart from having a great working relationship, they were also able to guide me and help me because of the different methodologies,” says Daniel who had earlier watched Madras and Sarpatta Paramparai to know more about Ranjith. “I was blown away by the social commentary of Madras and for a fleeting moment, I was reminded of Spike Lee’s works. While watching Sarpatta, I again got reminded of Lee as well as Quentin Tarantino. When I finally spoke to Ranjith about western filmmakers, the first name he said was Spike Lee and I found that to be fascinating as an artiste.”
Art versus the artist
Ask him if an actor should understand a film’s politics and agree with it, and Daniel says, “Understanding it is similar to understanding your co-stars but it does not necessarily mean you agree with it. What I’m interested in is whether they are a great artiste and if so, I want to work with them and then, I can disagree with them politically. Obviously, if the content is something extreme then that’s a red line for me. In the years gone past, it was about the quality of work and the community was filled with people with different views who would still respect each other. I don’t know where the respect has now gone in general internationally.”
Citing an example of veteran filmmaker Elia Kazan whose A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) was Marlon Brando’s breakthrough role, Daniel says, “When the McCarthy era trials were going on, communists were blacklisted in Hollywood and people’s lives were destroyed. Kazan was put under pressure and was asked to name the communists he knew which, to his regret, he did. Many years later, he won an honorary Oscar and as he walked on stage, a lot of Hollywood actors decided to remain seated because he had given names over to the government at the time.”
Daniel Caltagirone in a still from ‘Thangalaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A young Daniel, who watched it, was horrified. “It’s because I thought, how dare any of us judge what one person and his family have gone through? Where’s the humanity in it? Is an artiste’s work invalid because they happen to have made a mistake in their life?”
When asked if it applies to The Pianist director Polanski who is a convicted sex offender, Daniel says, “I don’t for one second condone his behaviour, and I know he has regrets. But do we get rid of The Pianist, one of the greatest films of all time? Do we get rid of his Rosemary’s Baby which is one of the best horror films of all time? Because what worries me is almost similar to George Orwell’s 1984 where you cannot agree to disagree anymore. Therein lies the dilemma. Where do you draw the line?”
He believes that in today’s world, we have lost the ability to listen to someone with a different perspective. “It’s alright if we don’t agree, but the least we could do is listen. That crossover between art and life can be blurred and it can be complicated. Ranjith is a social commentator who wants to break the caste system. I understand what he’s trying to say and anyone who disagrees with that would be ridiculous. But I’m also aware that there are more complicated, deeper issues that I do not know of.”
Thangalaan releases in theatres on August 15
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