 And I apologize. Ishwak. Okay, I just want to make sure. I'm very white We are here with Ishwak Singh at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles Promoting his new film Berlin. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you I know I know you are having slept in a little while. Yeah. Yeah Understandable. Yeah, absolutely. Just coming in from India. So we have actually seen the film absolutely love the film And your performance in it actually particularly I want to know first what drew you I mean I can think of some reasons But what drew you to this role specifically? Oh, it's it's always the writing I mean for me, the you know, the funny thing is I just get into the detail I got a call and I was driving going for a shoot thick of in the middle of something I was in a call with the casting director and Atul the director and He gave he gave me an outline like and just you know like a minute whatever he could tell about the film And I was like sure I mean I'd love to read some of it. I hung up and I called back the casting director It was a con call. I was like, I don't mean I don't want to read it. I Just you know, it's like it was magical. I knew it's it's something very very special And then when I actually read it, I was he narrated it to me and I read it I was like this one one of the best scripts I've ever read It's it's it's the writing man. It's just it's a unit always is and you see that there's so much I would call it a Perfect script because for me, it's a perfect script It does everything that I look for in a in a firm in a script You know, it's got the undertones got the unset stuff Which is which is what you can work with I had needed to develop a particular skill for this The interpersonal relationships got into that much later, but that's there So, I mean, whatever I can you know, it's what what I guess is a Is that your dream roller or an accurately craze for is something that Challenges you sounds cliche, but it is like, you know where you need to work on relationships You where it's an internal journey where it's it's about people. It's about knowing environment or period Like I said developing a skill learning Getting to know about a community which I did in this case, which was the death Community all of that. So, yeah, like a 360 degree kind of thing I can just go on and on that's good. Absolutely. Well, it was very clear. We talked about this in our review It was very clear from the final work that you did that you were Assuredly immersive in your research and like you said learning the new skill I assume you didn't it's ISL that you're speaking in it, correct? Yeah, and had you been exposed to that prior signing not speaking. Yeah. Yes Yeah, did had you ever had you ever done sign language before? Never. I you know, and it's so interesting That signing is recent. I'm sure I don't know how recent it is and I Mean be recent not as recent as it is in India But ISL is some 20 years old when it actually start getting structured 2030 25 years old but back in the day in the 90s They used to be gestures So and a few films that got made back in the day, which I saw good ones where there was signing by an actor done really Well, those are all gestures. We didn't really have a reference point and for this The the moment I like I said, you know, this was exciting for me I spoke to a tool when I got on board and Like I'm gonna start learning the skill use like this time There's a lot of you know, awesome. I was like even better. Yeah, I get you know, sir And I was doing multiple things. There's another show that I was doing Yeah, it was very very intense in the sense that again It was it was something that required To learn a lot about that, you know, that subject that time that period of that rocket. Yes. Yeah The shooting of rocket boys and I was doing a whole show after that. There's like a bunch of things So whenever I did get time out of I So even if it was like one session a week, that's how I started I found a coach And I started sort of You know because I thought that if I do this consistent work over a period of time We just sink in and it would be a part of me as opposed to you know, you just do get those Two weeks or three a couple of weeks or even a month or two months before the shoot then it's then it's about the work It's not really learning, you know, then it's just about learning those lines because That that little that last leg You know, it's it's just about getting the lines right making it a part of your system It's it becomes Yeah, it's exploration is very limited so I kind of did this for a while Because I was shooting other things I had to drop it and I kept sort of going back to it The work shows it was a roller coaster, right? Did you become fluent in it What is that I have forgotten everything That's great. Yeah, so Yeah, so this one was I mean I for me it just came to me like you know, if you want to do this You should be able to communicate with a deaf person. Absolutely. And I made friends in the community I'm quite ashamed to do a video call get on a video call with them now because I wouldn't be able to you know I've forgotten pretty much everything So we kind of exchange messages once in a while then but I could communicate with them I could talk about stuff. In fact, I kind of the biggest test for me was One of them was was actually became a when I sort of got in touch with this with this girl who runs an NGO and kind of One person who was so, you know I got to like meet a bunch of people and one of them actually came and stayed with me at my place for a weekend And the thing was for me it was like at that point Let me see, you know, how this goes can we sort of that I don't want this to be a sort of an awkward situation where Where he feels like he's out of place. So I feel like You know, I can't communicate with this person. It's like two people living under the same roof and it has to seem normal Both of us right and it was because you know what happens when a friend comes over. What do you do at the end of the day? What do you do at night? You know, you have a you have a drink together and then you start talking express To get vulnerable all that happened Any story that's talking about my personal You know, it's exchanging my personal things with him It was it was really amazing and it doesn't really bring It's not like, you know, I was necessarily I could draw something I mean, I'm pretty sure I have even if I wouldn't have been able to draw something from that moment But when you wake up the next day, you just know that, you know, this is this that it It's in you know, right? It's right of your system. Yeah, it's it's you don't need to part of the back story now It's part of who that person is. Yeah, and I'm sure obviously you said you taught went in the community as well Because not only obviously did you have to sign You I believe the character was was born deaf correct. Yep. Yeah And so you had to be believable as somebody who's always been deaf And so was that a Fun for you was it a challenge for you to to learn something that obviously because you can hear Was it was it challenging for you to No, it was fun. It was I mean, of course it was challenging I normally don't use that word because I think it's it's like, you know, when you see this thing as a part of your You know acting is immersive and you do you do something it's it's more about the joy of doing it And but this was daunting it kind of I used to feel at times that How's this gonna happen? You know, I mean, I'm okay about learning about policing and Signs and rocket boys and all the stuff that I've done. Oh card in a horror show that I did But this was pretty daunting in that sense. I was used to get like But Yeah, it Just It just came organically. I think it was that you know, it's like Why I felt that it wasn't extra work that I did when I said I started working a year ago I just knew that for me to do it probably someone else can do it in two weeks For me to feel normal feet up be comfortable. This needs to be done So there are times when I'm shooting another show I used to get done with the shoot and you wiped out by the end of it I'd come back to the hotel and at Scarular session with my sign language coach and do that because I knew that if I don't do this then I Won't make the progress and I won't get to the point where I need to You know, if you do this in and out, it's it's like you know your craft You know yourself your limitations your capabilities If you make that graph initially, I don't talk about the character graph It's like just then the amount of work that you need to put in for me It's always that if I know I get a sense that this is what I need to do I might miss it You can just make it make plans. You don't always They're not actually perfect, but it gets you somewhere, right? So so I did in this case I was lucky because yeah, I've seen the fun, too I mean, I happy with it. I'm very happy. You should be I'm very critical, but I think this is one thing where I think that everything is You know, it's Now I was just talking to a friend about it the other day, you know when I see a film I get very very anxious Because I feel the pressure for the first time when I see myself on screen on something on part of Because it's like that's how I'm wired. I feel the need to Like it's like that performance pressure You know, it's as if I need to perform now that scene again, it's it's strange But when I was watching this it was it was normal. It was like I could just see it And I was like I was calm with the whole thing That's great And I'm sure the you've worked on many OTT series now many that we took the lock and Rocket boys in heaven We haven't seen the horror one yet. Yeah, I wanted to watch all But what what what are the processes? Do you do like the process the long drawn-out process of an OTT series more than a film or are they just completely different? You're what are your experiences man? I mean deep down. It's all the same. Well, it's not I mean going back to Theater days just like doing a play just like I mean it's building the character and you put them if you've got that foundation You can just keep piling up Floors, you know one above the other thing in architectural analogy It's just the same once I have the the character whether it's it's a short play whether it's full and play a short film a show Multiple seasons She's about building that character, right? Mm-hmm. I I You know when I started out I felt like This pressure of all this need to even if I was doing a scene in a play I felt the need to sort of know the guy inside out Because I thought that at at the end of the day while you know I need to know that the guy what he does 365 days or in a year and if it's just like that day of the year It's only then I know what he where he's at at that point Mm-hmm if you get into the you know if you want to like, you know get into the detail fit so Now it's just that I'm you know, I'm seen so it's just from from that day and now when I'm like doing a show It's like you should you sing me a year long. So it's it's not really any different part it is because you know every The why I guess it's a treat for makers actors to be in a show Great place to sort of test your skills That's where you get to know if you if this is really for you or not because There's so much to do so much expected out of you In terms of craft in terms of discipline in terms of profession like you really need to have Not just the chops, but the patience To deal with the discipline. It's long. I mean, it's like like a show is like making three films, right? Oh, yeah, sure, you know as opposed to a beginning middle and end every Every episode has a big beginning middle and end, you know in a show see imagine the The number of graphs that you have that you need to the amount of work that needs to be put in Into a show but then again, I mean, it's I think it's that's that's why it's it's such a great medium because you get to Explore a character to those to that extent Absolutely. Well, everything we've seen you do we've enjoyed We really were looking forward to the day that we could talk to you And this one in particular which you'll see with if you get to see the review Truly every frame of film in this and everybody in the cast it the amount of work and and Dedication came through. It's it's a truly wonderful piece of art. Oh, I miss the miss the most important point Going back to the first question. I think you're talking about putting in the hours, but you know, it's all I Have to give credit to the director and the writer Because you just literally like you just like an actor is a vessel why I was calm the first time I saw it It's because I I felt that ease while shooting it I Was pushed to do all these things to read books about the deaf community to get into the history of it Mingle with the community do all of that, you know find a case study It I wasn't doing it if you think about it I was just taking cues from the writing is the writer and his writing that sent me to all these places Sure, you know here and outside. So yeah, it's it's I think credit goes to the Magician, yeah for sure. It must have been a dream as an actor to to do those scenes with you and AK I won't give anything away, but those were some of our favorite parts of the entire film We're just two actors acting on screen. Yes, like the two heavyweights going at it. It was it was beautiful to watch So thank you so much for first sitting down with us. It was a joy to talk to you Please go watch Berlin and come to the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles