Flexibility helps Indian actors break into Hollywood: Nimrat Kaur

It is the quality of flexibility and ability to adapt to an out-of-comfort zone that helps Indian actors make a mark in a foreign land, says Nimrat Kaur, who has worked in American shows like "Wayward Pines" and "Homeland".

Nimrat first caught attention with "The Lunchbox", a simple but compelling film that found wide visibility at international film festivals. It worked in her favour for projects abroad.

In the past few years, Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Ali Fazal have featured in international movies.

What does it take for an Indian-origin actor to break into Hollywood?

"For any Indian actor, the first thing which helps you to be able to cross over and be able to work in different industries -- not just the American film industry, but even in Europe or anywhere else -- is, I guess, flexibility and relatability... What happens is that the first thing is language," Nimrat told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

Actors with an ability to express themselves in different languages have an advantage, she said.

"We are one of the largest film industries in the world, but we are a Hindi-speaking film industry. So, for actors who are able to express themselves and who are able to translate as actors in a different language, they truly stand out with that advantage... They are able to cross over and are able to work in different industries.

"That is a very basic factor which helps actors to be able to cross that bridge," she added.

Nimrat hopes to see more and more Indian actors in "projects, films and TV series abroad".

"I feel like we have all the talent of the world. We have such incredibly diverse and amazing actors who just need to be seen in a different light. It's very exciting to be out of your comfort zone and be able to plug yourself into environments that you do not entirely relate to. But as exciting as it is to work in a foreign project, it's also being majorly out of your comfort zone," she added.

She stressed that flexibility, openness and being able to move without carrying any baggage of where one comes from "really helps if you work in a foreign set-up".

Nimrat was last seen on the silver screen in the 2016 film "Airlift", starring Akshay Kumar. She is currently seen in ALT Balaji's web series "The Test Case".

She hopes this year she is going to be seen in more projects.

(Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in <mailto:durga.c@ians.in>)

--IANS

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