Exclusive! In India, for foreigners like me, the typecast role is a bad British guy, says Mark Bennington
American actor, photographer, drummer and author, Mark Bennington is enjoying his stint in the Indian entertainment industry. Known for his roles in films and OTT projects like Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, Angrezi Medium and RRR, among others, the actor, who will be in city tomorrow for the Lucknow Short Film Festival, shared about his journey so far and how his ethnicity limits the role in the Indian entertainment industry. Excerpts...
You are coming to Lucknow for an event. Do you know about the city and have you been here before?
Yes, I have been to Lucknow before and I know a little bit about the city. My mother-in-law is originally from Lucknow. I was here a couple of years ago for a play titled Devika Rani with actress Lillete Dubey. I do not remember where I staged the play, but what I clearly remember is that it was a great show and a great audience. I also did some chikan shopping for my wife.
Talking about your journey in the entertainment world, how has it been so far? You have done so many Hollywood projects and even Indian projects in the entertainment world, what basic difference can you spot between the two?Well, the journey so far has been good and there is a big difference between the two industries. I have done a lot of projects in Hollywood. I did a lot of theatre in the US and TV projects for a couple of years. But most of my film and TV work has been here in India. What work I did in the USA was a real struggle. When I started working in America there were about a million guys who looked like me, I am talking about my mid-20s. So getting the guest appearance role was very difficult there. Here in India things are very different. Here, you approach casting directors and freely walk into their office and send videos of auditions but back in LA it is a taboo to do that. Back there, they have several agencies of different tiers of actors. You have to work your way to get work through them. I gave two auditions a year there. But one main difference is that I am still getting the residual cheques of the TV shows I did 25 years ago which is not the case in India.
Are you happy with the opportunities coming your way in the Indian entertainment industry? Does somewhere being a foreigner limit the vision of makers towards you?It is limited, of course! The market in the USA is so diverse and there are so many ethnicities now playing a variety of leads and all different kinds of roles. You have so many examples of popular foreigners playing prominent roles in Hollywood while in India you have none. In India, for foreigners like me, the typecast role is a British bad guy. So many times the casting directors tell me the same words when I ask them about my role in a project. When I ask them to be a more specific they tell me I have to be evil in my character. (laughs) So foreigners are typecast in Indian cinema. Sometimes I am happy to do such roles while other times I turn them down as they are not layered in any way. I am longing to play more characters like the one I played in Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo of Donze.
Have you learnt Hindi? How important is it for you to know the language to work in the Indian industry?My Hindi is very sparse. Now when I get the script in Hindi I can understand it better than I could when I started working here. In my upcoming project, I have dialogues not just in Hindi but also in Urdu. I had a coach for that project. I worked really hard for that. I still can’t speak fluent Hindi and this is still a big topic of conversation at my home as my wife is from here and I have two girls, and my six-year-old always tells me that she will teach me Hindi soon.
How was it sharing screen space with Dimple Kapadia and romancing her in the series considering she is considered the queen of romance of her time?I really had no idea about her background. In fact I only found out when she told me sitting by the pool at the location of our show. I knew she was famous but I hadn’t seen any of her work. But for actors, it is always nice not knowing anything about the person’s background. She is such a pro and so down to earth and easy to talk to. We had a fun jovial professional relationship. Dimple and I actually looked good together on screen when I saw the show, we looked like a real couple in Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo.
What are your future projects?I am shooting for a Punjabi film and an OTT project is slated for release. Plus, I am also writing. I want to write and direct projects in the India since there is a limit to my acting prospects and opportunities here.