Sir Ben Kingsley, one of the world's most respected Asian-origin actors, has built a rich career on a wide variety of screen roles. In an exclusive interview from Goa, where he is attending the 40th International Film Festival of India, the Yorkshire-born actor shares his thoughts with on what has kept him going since bursting on the global scene in 1982 with Gandhi.
On the lasting legacy of Sir Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.
Gandhi happened nearly three decades ago and I thought that I had got out of the role's influence. But on my return to India this time, the juices in my body are running again. I realise that the thread hasn't snapped one bit. I feel exactly the way I felt when Sir Richard Attenborough said "Action" during the making of Gandhi. I feel I'm home once again. It is like a piece of music or a perfume that reminds you somebody you love and fear you will never see again. India is in my bones. I visited the Goa Governor's residence. On the way out, I saw a photograph of Gandhiji and Jawahar Lal Nehru. I couldn't stop myself from doing something that one never does - I patted Gandhiji's cheek. I can hear that haunting piece of music again.
On what helped him pull off the defining role of his career.
"I have garnered accolades for my performance in Gandhi, but I couldn't have played the role without the unstinted help and support I received from every co-actor and every member of the crew, right down to the most distant extra. Rohini Hattangadi, Alyque Padamsee and Roshan Seth, among other, became great friends and helped me understand India and Gandhi. Alyque took me around Delhi to show me the real India which I wouldn't have seen from my five-star hotel."
On what he learnt from Gandhiji.
"Gandhiji was an extraordinary man. You cannot but be extraordinary when you can turn anger into such positive energy that you inspire an entire nation to adopt peaceful resistance. Just imagine what Gandhi would have felt when he was thrown out of a train in South Africa because of the colour of his skin. He would have been very, very angry. But unlike ordinary mortals, he did not allow anger to get the better of his judgment; he used it to propel a non-violent political movement against oppression."
On his favourite screen role.
"The Iranian Air Force man in (Vadim Perelman's) House of Sand and Fog who comes to the US to build a life for himself and his family is close to my heart. He is honest. When my late mother saw the film she exclaimed: "That's my boy!"
On Schindler's List, in which a played a Jewish bookkeeper.
"What was remarkable was that the film was shot in Cracow, where the scars of European anti-Semitism were still visible. It wasn't comfortable at all. If the town had been recreated somewhere else, it would have been comfortable but the actors would not."
On the incredible diversity of his screen roles.
"I've been lucky. I know actors who play policemen and that's all they do; they play gangsters and that's all they do. Critics have often called me bipolar because of the extremes of humanity that I have portrayed. I played a former fascist in Death and the Maiden, and a particularly brutal gangster in Sexy Beast. I have also been a murderous barber in The Tale of Sweeney Todd and a professor of literature who seduces student in Elegy.
On his favourite Indian filmmaker.
"Satyajit Ray is equal to William Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy. He had the amazing ability to extend small struggles of human beings into something really big and fill the screen with it."
On why he wants to make Taj.
"It is one story about India that has global resonance. Shah Jahan built one of the most magnificent monuments to love the world has ever known. He was an epic figure in the truest sense, but I would like to play him as a flesh and blood character, as a man like you and me, with his strengths and foibles. I am really keen to bring India's culture and history to the big screen once again. This visit has only strengthened my resolve."
On the likelihood of Aishwarya Rai playing Mumtaz Mahal.
"The only actors that are confirmed at this point are me and wife, Daniela Lavender. I will play Shah Jahan and she will be the Emperor's first wife, Kandahari Begum. The screenplay is with Aishwarya and I would love to have her in the role of Mumtaz Mahal. But her decision would depend entirely on whether she likes the script and role enough to come on board."
On the lasting legacy of Sir Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.
Gandhi happened nearly three decades ago and I thought that I had got out of the role's influence. But on my return to India this time, the juices in my body are running again. I realise that the thread hasn't snapped one bit. I feel exactly the way I felt when Sir Richard Attenborough said "Action" during the making of Gandhi. I feel I'm home once again. It is like a piece of music or a perfume that reminds you somebody you love and fear you will never see again. India is in my bones. I visited the Goa Governor's residence. On the way out, I saw a photograph of Gandhiji and Jawahar Lal Nehru. I couldn't stop myself from doing something that one never does - I patted Gandhiji's cheek. I can hear that haunting piece of music again.
On what helped him pull off the defining role of his career.
"I have garnered accolades for my performance in Gandhi, but I couldn't have played the role without the unstinted help and support I received from every co-actor and every member of the crew, right down to the most distant extra. Rohini Hattangadi, Alyque Padamsee and Roshan Seth, among other, became great friends and helped me understand India and Gandhi. Alyque took me around Delhi to show me the real India which I wouldn't have seen from my five-star hotel."
On what he learnt from Gandhiji.
"Gandhiji was an extraordinary man. You cannot but be extraordinary when you can turn anger into such positive energy that you inspire an entire nation to adopt peaceful resistance. Just imagine what Gandhi would have felt when he was thrown out of a train in South Africa because of the colour of his skin. He would have been very, very angry. But unlike ordinary mortals, he did not allow anger to get the better of his judgment; he used it to propel a non-violent political movement against oppression."
On his favourite screen role.
"The Iranian Air Force man in (Vadim Perelman's) House of Sand and Fog who comes to the US to build a life for himself and his family is close to my heart. He is honest. When my late mother saw the film she exclaimed: "That's my boy!"
On Schindler's List, in which a played a Jewish bookkeeper.
"What was remarkable was that the film was shot in Cracow, where the scars of European anti-Semitism were still visible. It wasn't comfortable at all. If the town had been recreated somewhere else, it would have been comfortable but the actors would not."
On the incredible diversity of his screen roles.
"I've been lucky. I know actors who play policemen and that's all they do; they play gangsters and that's all they do. Critics have often called me bipolar because of the extremes of humanity that I have portrayed. I played a former fascist in Death and the Maiden, and a particularly brutal gangster in Sexy Beast. I have also been a murderous barber in The Tale of Sweeney Todd and a professor of literature who seduces student in Elegy.
On his favourite Indian filmmaker.
"Satyajit Ray is equal to William Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy. He had the amazing ability to extend small struggles of human beings into something really big and fill the screen with it."
On why he wants to make Taj.
"It is one story about India that has global resonance. Shah Jahan built one of the most magnificent monuments to love the world has ever known. He was an epic figure in the truest sense, but I would like to play him as a flesh and blood character, as a man like you and me, with his strengths and foibles. I am really keen to bring India's culture and history to the big screen once again. This visit has only strengthened my resolve."
On the likelihood of Aishwarya Rai playing Mumtaz Mahal.
"The only actors that are confirmed at this point are me and wife, Daniela Lavender. I will play Shah Jahan and she will be the Emperor's first wife, Kandahari Begum. The screenplay is with Aishwarya and I would love to have her in the role of Mumtaz Mahal. But her decision would depend entirely on whether she likes the script and role enough to come on board."
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