International Emmy-winning comedian Vir Das, was once a Bollywood actor. He began his career in the movies with a small role in filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s 2007 film Namastey London. He played the prospective groom number three for Katrina Kaif’s character Jasmine. In a recent interview, the actor recalled his experience of shooting for the film, and the classism he experienced on set.
In the podcast Moments of Silence, Vir Das recounted, “I didn’t know that movies were dubbed. I was a theatre actor. I think Katrina had lost her voice, so she wasn’t talking too much. So, the scene is we are on the terrace. I am the prospective groom number three. There is Rishi Kapoor, Nina Wadia and Katrina Kaif. On the other side it is me and…” He paused to make finger quotes, and said, “We were the junior artistes, me and a woman playing my mother.”
He continued, “There is an umbrella over Rishi Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Nina Wadia’s heads. But me and my mother are baking in the sun. We are the only two sweaty people in this beautiful Bollywood scene.”
Vir didn’t know his way around a film set back then, and was learning the ropes on the job. He continued, “I didn’t know about how cameras move and all of that stuff. Suddenly, Vipul Shah was like, ‘Katrina dubbing mein karlenge something something’. So the scene is Rishi Kapoor says something, I say something, and Katrina Kaif is like…” Vir imitated Katrina’s line in a barely audible whisper.
“The director said, ‘Cut, mind-blowing. Brilliant.’ And I am just sitting there and thinking: ‘Am I high? She didn’t say s**t.’ And then they moved the camera. Then it comes on to somebody else’s close-up. Again the dialogues are repeated by all of us. Katrina is whispering again. Looking at her, I was shocked and was like: ‘Is this her character in the movie?’ We are doing this again and again and again and my mother and I are changing shades, baking. Finally, the time came for my close-up and they all got up and left because they didn’t have to stick around.”
The comedian shared that he was left with the third AD to do his scene. However, his first experience on set was not as bad as it sounds. He recalled Rishi Kapoor’s advice to him.
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“Rishi Kapoor is a cool guy. He asked me, ‘Beta tumhara naam kya hai (Son, what’s your name?)’ and I was like, ‘Vir Das’. He put his hand forward and was like, shake my hand son.” Explaining what that moment meant for him, Vir shared, “So when you shake Rishi Kapoor’s hand, you become Tina Munim from Karz. All your masculine energy just drains out and you are his heroine in that moment. I am shaking his hand and like ‘He is the dude from Karz.’ He is like, ‘You are a great actor. Shake my hand. Promise me you will never leave acting.’ And, not lying, it is a true story: within three seconds of him leaving, someone put an umbrella over my head in the unit.”
