'I'm not happy with the film'

Ruchi Sharma

A meeting with Rajiv Punja can begin with complete confusion.

Especially if the only thing you have seen of him is The Inscrutable Americans. In terms of age, sure, he is almost the same age as Gopal in the film, give or take a few years.

But that's where similarities of any kind end.

While Gopal is a lost, confused 24-year-old small-town Indian boy who is thrown into the whirl of life in big, bad Amreeka, Rajiv comes across as a street-smart, savvy young man, who might pull one over people, rather than the other way round.

With a college degree from the not-too-well-known school in Ohio, this aspiring actor started off differently. "I wanted to be an international lawyer, and it was with this plan that I left home (Bangalore) for Ohio to study Liberal Arts, when I was about 18 or so. But one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was offered a part in a play."

A Pakistani store-owner is how Rajiv debuted. Not much to write home about, but more than enough to get him noticed, and offered more.

Besides, it somewhat changed the direction he was headed in.

Soon, summer internships in acting followed. The school, which has a small class of eight passing out, had Rajiv included as one of them.

One thing led to another, and he soon found himself playing significant roles in major Shakespeare productions. After a good record, Rajiv decided to try his luck in the Big Apple, but New York turned out to be the rudest shock he had ever received.

"It was awful," he shuddered. The memory of the nine to five job, plus bartending all night was imprinted in his mind. All this, and all he could manage was to pay food and rent.

"There, they believe they’re doing you a favour by merely giving you a chance. No one even talks about paying new actors there," he says.

"And after the luxury of working at Oberlin, it was simply terrible," he says indignantly. And all for what? A one minute part in an off-off-off Broadway production... and Rajiv cannot even remember the name of the play today.

Now that he is based in New York, he understands the scenario better. Unless you have experience in New York, you aren’t considered or taken seriously there.

That, Rajiv reiterates, was a summer he will never forget.

Time flew by, and brought with it what Rajiv likes to call immense good fortune. "It is just pure good luck that landed me all these roles. I managed to get a part in Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and Titus and Andronicus, all in school. New York was less kind, but Rajiv says he got by just fine. Then a movie fell into his lap.

"I was interested in working with Ray Murphy, so when I heard about the part in Field Guide to White People, I went," he says.

Through his 'manager', quite akin to the Indian version of a 'secretary', he heard about the role in The Inscrutable Americans.

"I actually auditioned for a smaller role in the film, but the director felt that I could carry off the role of the main protagonist," he says. The L-factor at work again.

"But I'm not happy with the film, or the way I shaped up in it.

"First of all, I was given too short a period to prepare for a character that is so completely not me," he says.

There is a lot of Rajiv who has been added to Gopal, to get the resulting character, which comes across very well.

But Rajiv does not agree. "It doesn’t go with my personal style and what I believe in. There ought to be an element of subtlety when it comes to a craft like acting. There’s none here," he says.

Neither did he like the book much, he honestly confesses.

"In terms of plot, the film didn’t really go anywhere. There wasn’t a solid string of story threading it throughout. Furthermore, the end was changed. I do think that there was some sort of justice in the original ending, which completely lost the snap at the end of the film," he says, still all fire and brimstone about the issue.

"I fought tooth and nail," he says. "And I am not very happy with the film anyway, and less happy with myself in it," he says.

But then, this young man believes that nothing can beat theatre - while all films do is pay the bills.

"The film is a director’s medium. Give me the stage any day," he says.