 Small little room, three men. Say something. Three men. Go ahead. In a small room. Waiting for Godot. Has Nassir ever done Waiting for Godot? He has to have. Has he? Do you know who? Nassir. Nassir. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's done. That is perfect. He's done Waiting for Godot? Yeah. The door he did Zoo Story. Yeah. I saw his. He does theater there all the time, right? Yeah, he's very regular. Yeah, I would love to whenever we go back to. He's brilliant on stage. Oh, I'm sure. He's so amazing on stage. I'm sure he is. He's brilliant in film. I can only imagine on stage what he's like. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming in. Yeah, very much. I'm very glad you guys invited me and we met. Yes, we, for those who don't know, we met Vipin at the Monkey Man premiere here in Hollywood. It was wonderful. The film was absolutely fantastic. And he was able to stay in Los Angeles for an extended period of time. So he was able to actually come into the studio and talk to us when we're very happy that we're able to do that. Because we've seen a lot of your work. Yep. And for a long time, obviously, because you're in so many films, you're in so many OTT series. But first, I want to talk about Monkey Man, since that's what we just saw. How did you get involved with that project to start? I acted in Hotel Mumbai. And Anthony Maras was directing that film. And I met him here, almost cost the whole film. But he said there is a small part, but very interesting. I love you to do it. I thought of it and I thought, hey, small is not a problem, because I'm going to meet they, but that was my intention. And I said, yes, and I went. And they and I spoke very briefly, because it wasn't exactly a big scene between him and me. He just, I am the hotel lobby. I'm the manager at this hotel. And he's just crossing the lobby asking me which floor. Is he working today? I just signed him, you know, fourth floor or something. That was it. But then after the shot, or in between, we sat and I chatted with him a little bit. And then I became friends with Joe Joman through that, because they threw a party for us. And then Joe said, you know, we are starting a new film, and we would love you to be a part of it. So I was very excited. Then Dave told me afterwards that when he saw the movie in London, Hotel Mumbai, he saw my scene and he liked it quite a lot. And he thought of me. And when he was writing Monkey Man, he thought of me while he was writing. So this role in a way kind of was written. Was very much for you. I'm very honored that he thought of me as a girl actually. I read that just from one scene, he could see an entire different personality. You know, it's just the other side of me. It's just the other 50% of me. Yeah, no, I read the interview. I think it was Variety that you did, where you had mentioned that Dave's approach to the character had always been to think of Alpha, right? To think of Alpha as female the whole time, everything about that approach. So it was the combination of both he envisioned you, but he always was writing from the feminine perspective. And had you ever played a character that was quite like this before? No, not really. You know, I used to say that in some of my interviews in India too, and to my friends. You know, people ask actors, what's your favorite role? And usually it's Hamlet or Wright, you know? And I said I want to be a girl because, you know, for me to play female character is the ultimate challenge for a man because, you know, as a male, I can be a male gangster, a male doctor, a male engineer, male whatever. You'll always be gonna, but to play, you know, something that you're not, biologically, completely. That's another realm that I always thought very excited about, and I dreamt and I wished somebody would cast me like that. So they, you know, know the dream come true that he thought of me for Alpha. Yeah, and how much of, for example, I don't want to give too much away because I want people to watch your performance. Yes, yes, yes. But. The film, yeah. Yeah, the film, how much freedom did you have in creating Alpha in terms of what you looked like, even costuming anything else you did with jewelry or makeup or was that you just let the creative team do costuming and makeup and you just took what they gave you and used it? I think it was a combination of all of this, what you're saying, right from the start, I remember when I met Dave for the audition, it wasn't an audition because Dave just met me and we just clicked the second time when we met. It just felt like I've known him for years, he's known me for years. We chatted like friends and we hardly chatted about the dialogues and lines and anything and he just sat with me and he said, yeah, great, great, great. And then we put something on Dave, which also looked like just a formality because Dave was already sure that I am the one. Yeah, sure. Then I left the audition room and generally you leave the auditions, people say, okay, thank you for coming, we'll let you know. Yeah, we'll let you know. And you're like, okay, let me know now. But exactly the same thing happened. I had just come down from the studio and then I heard my name, someone called me back and said, hey, Dave wants to chat with you. I went up and Dave said, this is your role, I am not looking for the, looking any further, this is your role, you're doing this character. So that's how I got it. And then when I went to the shoot, I grew my nails, polished them. I already had long hair because of the pandemic and we kept everything. We did few readings, Dave and I and you know, I just kind of stayed in that zone, you know, long hair, nail, polished nails and I used to be at a, you know, underneath the saree, women have this under the arm and called petticoat. Yes. So I wore that. I was roaming around in all that. I tried the sarees and the costume trial happened. We did a bit of a makeup trial. Dave didn't want to exaggerate the look, lots. You know, it was just as minimal and as subdued and subtle as possible. Right. And all that helped because it kind of slowly put me into that. I don't, I kind of, I'm very, the whole world method acting is a very, it's not an easy topic to kind of get into. Yes. I wouldn't say I did that because that takes a lot of courage and a lot of time. Yeah, a lot of time. And, but yeah, these elements which could be considered a bit like that, I tried it. And I think it was the first time I tried it. I had never done that before. I would imagine it helped everything from keeping your own nails long versus having fake nails put on. You know, it doesn't. That helps your hands be feminine. It does. You know, I'll tell you two incidents that come to my mind. I wore a saree in a party. And then, you know, suddenly one, this thing, the Pallu it's called in the, the saree women put it back. And then it fell because of the breeze or something, it fell. And I felt naked. I just, I just felt like, oh my God. And I kind of, Raghu, the associate director was standing right next to me. I said, Raghu, please, please give me, hand me the Pallu. So he gave it back to me and he covered myself again. You know, that sense of your being, your body, your personality, I have never experienced that before. That was something very special. And one day I broke my nail. My nail were quite long actually. I broke it and I was so, I felt so mad at myself. I was like, why did I break my nail? I had grown them so. So nicely. So beautifully. Yeah, they look nice and then I realized, so that's what girls go through when their long nail breaks. Yeah, absolutely. I think I heard, I think it was Shia LaBeouf say, he's not method, he's method adjacent. And I think that's where a lot of actors kind of fall into. Very few ever go Daniel DeLewis, you know, Christian. Yeah. The only time you need, yeah, it's it's, and I love that. I wish I could get, I, my next dream would be that actually to be able to create a character through that process. Yes. The, the film in Indian cinema in Hollywood cinema, we've wanted to merge for a long time, a lot of collaborations. That's why one of the reasons, not only that, we love the film, but because the, it showcases a lot of really talented people from India and cinema. Dev casted yourself, Sorbetha and many others. Do you know if he did that intentionally, he wanted to showcase a lot of the talent from India? Yeah. Or was it just like these were the best people kind of thing? I think these all, all of us fit very right here in the film. Yeah. So I guess that's what he did. These are all Indian characters in a way. It's a, it's a, I, you know, I've seen the movie sometimes set somewhere in some place which could be India, you know? Yeah. It has that, you, you see the visuals and you, you think, ah, it looks like India, but maybe it's not India, you know? That quality that it has. Plus these characters are very, because they are all Indian characters. So I guess that's probably what it would be. And you were part of the project. You were one of the first people on board for Monkey Man who has seen all of the ups and downs from the pandemic to all of the different locations and whether or not distribution was gonna happen. And through that process, it's a two-part question. What was that like for you? And what was that like for Dev? Cause I remember him being really transparent at the premiere and talking about how part of this for him was, for a lot of his life, he was wondered if he was British enough and he wondered if he was Indian enough. Yeah. So I just would love to know anything you can share about what the experience was like for how long that took for yourself and how much of that Dev shared of his struggles with the project. Well, I really saw the up close very personally, very, you know, how passionately he was involved in the making of the film. The film was supposed to be shot in India. Pandemic happened. So everything just fell. And we all thought, okay, this is it. It's not gonna happen. And suddenly this small island in Indonesia popped up and I heard that we're going there. So I was like, okay, cool. Which was good because, you know, during the pandemic, seven months I didn't step out of my house. And I also didn't want to step out because I wanted to do this film. I was like, I'm not going out. I'm not taking a chance. I refused to three ads that were happening during that time under, you know, precautions and all that. So I kept myself available. And then I went to Indonesia. We were on, it was a resort only booked for us. Nobody could enter. We were testing twice every week. And every test was like a nightmare because I, you know, everybody was like, oh, I hope it's scary. It's scary. Yeah. Still there was that fear that, you know, and then Dave injured himself two, three times. And so everything was like, you know, it was happening and yet suddenly something will happen. Like the very first day I reached there, I heard that, so we, when we, all of us were in a quarantine for 15 days before we stepped out. And the DOP, the very first day was found positive. So he was sent to a hospital, Sharon and poor guy, he was like miserable. And he said, I don't have any symptoms. I don't think I have COVID. So he requested another test. The next day they tested him. He came negative. So he came out. So it was a false positive. Yeah. I remember I was standing at my balcony and somebody called and he said, you know, send everybody in, send everybody in because there's a case, COVID case in the resort. And everybody panicked. Yeah. So, you know, it was, it was those moments all the time. So it was always then after the film was being edited, it took almost three years to finally find the, you know, that it became possible that the rest of the world will see the film. You know, Jordan saw it, loved it, showed it to the universal. I think all this is now, everybody in the podcast, this information. So long struggle, but you know, as we were chatting earlier, I never for once left hope. I never thought, no, this film is not gonna come out. I always knew it would happen. At some point it's going to happen. I don't know why, I don't know why, but I was very sure that the film would come out. Yeah, and amazing that I had mentioned this earlier. I want to bring it up now that the cast didn't see the actual cut of the film until they went to the first premiere after so many years of everything because ADR was done at different times in different places. So they might see a snippet there if they did ADR. So you've got to be happy with the final result. I saw the screening in Austin. Yeah, South by Southwest. South by Southwest, you know, the Texan. Yeah, the passionate blood. People were screaming with joy, crying, laughing and standing ovation as soon as it finished and they came on stage. Everybody just stood up and it was a long standing ovation and it was the greatest feeling of the film there. And I'm not a very big action and blood and all kind of fan, but you know, I loved it and I thought it was more of a celebration of that genre rather than, you know, just kind of showing violence for its own sake. Yes. That was brilliant, actually. I loved the film. Yeah, I just loved it. So do we. Yeah, yeah. It exceeded expectations for us. You know, the last action film that I loved was John Wick 4. Yeah, yeah. And the stunt work in that and cinematography, so for a film to come into the action world with a first time director, I mean, Dev's been around a long time and as a director, yeah, I would imagine everybody's really proud of this film. Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah. Had you noticed any differences in, from going, you've been in a ton of Indian productions to a Hollywood production, was there any difference at all? Yeah, there is. You know, there's a basic difference of the two worlds. India is more random, more chaotic, more kind of disorganized things. But within all that, there is a very interesting element that everything works out. So, you know, we, there when you're working, you know that you have to work like that. Things are sometimes not that streamlined. Sometimes things change all of a sudden because there are so many logistics involved. On the other side, I think working on a film which is like Dev's film, I felt everything was streamlined, everything was designed, everything was fixed. So there are, I think this is basically different of two different, very different societies, actually. That's how things work in India, that's how things work in West. Here the bus stop says the bus will come and, you know, you know, eight, twelve, right, sometimes that may not be true, but mostly in India you could be standing at a bus stop and, you know, the bus can, eight, twelve bus can come at eight o'clock. Is that, I think that's why everybody has talked, talked about Amitabh Bachchan being on time for so many years. No, yeah, actually now, now people have started, now, within last, more than a decade now, people have kind of, I've noticed people come on time for meetings and things like that. I know earlier it was like, oh god. Oh man, that's gonna happen. You obviously, since you've been here, I'm sure you've heard a lot of people talk and obviously be very interested in the film and wanting to see more of your work, wanting to see more of work from India. Have you noticed that? Like more people, because obviously I know you've probably been asked about it, RRR, that's probably a lot of Indians, a lot of Americans' first exposure to India and Indian cinema. Have you noticed more interest in Indian cinema after this film? Have people? Yeah, after this film, I'm sure there should be more, more interest for sure, because all my co-actors have done a great job and people will take notice of that. Plus, I think, you know, the world is now getting smaller because of so much social media and now today I can watch a movie. If it's released in the US today, I can watch it in India, web shows, the series. So, you know, the rate of exposure is very fast now. You know, we can see things all over the world at once. Yeah, close to, you know. So I, you know, I'm sure people will take notice of new actors and actors from India and also, you know, each art form grows. The cinema has grown, the acting has grown. In India, it has taken a while, you know. Well, it's grown. But it's grown. Yeah, and you've seen that. I mean, you've been part of the industry for a very long time. How long was it between when you finished at the National School of Drama to when you worked on Stars with Amir Khan? How many years was that? Oh, that was a long, long time actually because what happened was after I finished my theater training night, I stopped acting. I quit acting. You were editing, right? I became an editor. Yeah. And so there was a long gap and it was thanks to Meisner that I actually came back to acting. Sanford Meisner. Yes. Oh, personally, did you encounter him personally? No, I almost did because I studied with one of his very, very close student, Jacqueline McLintock. Yeah. Taunt in Toronto and so on. So I studied with her. And after I studied with Meisner, one day she looked at me and she said, why did you quit acting? I was like, oh, and something clicked. I said, okay, I'm going to go back to acting. So I, that's why I quit acting. Glad you did. That's fantastic. That's wonderful. That is absolutely fantastic. On like, I don't know the tarot. Yeah. I recall like stars on Earth. I always recall a star. You can't recall a star. Yeah. I can't. I don't know. One of my favorite films for video. Yeah, we love that film. One couple of questions here on it because I'm sure you get, do you get, like, if people shout at you on the street, is it something from like stars? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, yesterday I was walking down on Hollywood Street near Dalby Theater and all and somebody, this young boy, crossed me and he said, oh, Ishan Vasthi from, Ishan's father from Tariz Aminpur. And I just looked back and he was this guy who was studying music here. That's awesome. And he turned around and he said, ah, I said, oh, you recognize me. He said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I recognize you. So yeah, sometimes kids in India, you know, kids, school going kids, 10, 12 years old and all that. So they would be coming in front of me from, if it's a street, they are walking towards me and I'm walking towards them. As we cross, they go on the other side and they say, they start singing, ta-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra. That's great. And I'm sure you've been asked about a billion times, but what was it like working on that with Amir in that whole process? You know, that was a dream come true in a very cliche sense. Because I went back to acting after long time. I was kind of hoping, you know, I'll get some roles, some couple of scenes here, couple of scenes there. Just be a working actor. You know, I will, I'll start working. That's what my whole agenda was. And suddenly, one day, I still remember very vividly, I was standing outside this house, we were shooting, there was this big lights and I was standing there and I saw Amir Khan inside setting up the camera and everything and I just realized, oh my God, I just came here to start my acting career and here I am standing with, you know, one of the top notch Bollywood stars. I just couldn't believe it. So that itself was quite a blessing actually. And I've read, and it's not a surprise that a lot changed for you in your acting career after that film. Oh yeah, absolutely. A lot changed in a good way and also in a very challenging way because sometimes what happens in India that if you do a role, then you get stereotype, then you get typecast, then you fight. So I fought a long time for that because everybody kind of wanted to repeat, wanted me to repeat it. And I was, no, I don't want to, you know? Yeah, most actors don't. No, nobody wants to do this. I once, once somebody called me and said, you know, it's the same role as in Paris Aminpar. Exactly same. Thanks for the challenge. Exactly. Why would I do that? Why would I do that? I did it. I've done that. Yeah. So that also became a bit of a struggle for me but I'm glad that I stuck to my guns and I stuck to my ideas of what I wanted to do. And I'm glad that I did varied roles post that. But yeah, it's been a bit of a struggle also. Yeah. Sure. How do you as an actor balance the choices that you make of certain things that will stimulate you artistically to doing more commercial stuff that would obviously more financially help you out? Obviously. I think it was Nasir or was it Ian McKellen? No, it's Nasir. As it says, I do these films so I can do these other films that I actually want to do. How do you balance that as an artist? Yeah, I've had a few opportunities come my way like that and allowed me to make some money here and do the cinema that I want to do. You know, I just make sure that if I say yes then I'm wholeheartedly in it. I make sure that I'm not in it because I'm getting a big chunk of money. I know I'm doing primarily because of that because that'll help me but I also know that apart from the money I have a bigger commitment to my career also. So whenever I've tried to do something mainstream I've made sure that I am in it fully. I do it with 100% commitment. And I think that's where the challenge lies when you don't want to do a certain kind of cinema or certain kind of film but if you do it for some reason or any reason then make sure that you are 100% there. You gave your entire being to it. So that's the challenge actually. Did you find that today especially after say a role like you've just done in Monkey Man, are you, and it also comes with age I have found that the older that you get as an actor the roles you get to select are a bit more diverse and a bit more not as stereotypical. So have you found that this part of your career you're getting a broader choice of the kinds of roles to play versus back when you were first starting? Yes and no, you know, some people it really depends on makers at times. They see, can they see you in something very different? Yeah. I'm very grateful to Dave that he saw me something very different and that really depends at times on other factors of filmmakers, how do they see you? How do they want you to do something new and exciting? Plus by saying no, you're also setting up you're also signaling other people I'm not interested in this kind of casting I'm interested in this kind of role. So it's a battle between you and the industry in a way actually. And I guess you have to make sure that you keep putting yourself out like that. You know, I want to do this, I want to do this. And after a point, I think industry people also know that various directors also know that oh, he's not interested in something like that. Sure. Yeah, eventually everybody gets to know that's not something that they're interested in. To reach that point is a bit of a struggle for all of us. It doesn't surprise me even though you never did a role like Alpha before but because Dev is obviously a very good director now but because Dev's an actor I think any actor who watches you work knows the range you have and that a role like this is it doesn't surprise me that Dev would think of you because we haven't seen your whole filmography but we've seen a lot of your work and you're always good. There's any time we see you're in something we're excited because we know that the work you're gonna bring is always really good. And have you found a difference working with, say, a Dev Patel who is a director but also an actor in the way that they're able to see you in roles and direct you in roles versus non-acting directors or there's really not that much of a difference? Couple of people come to my mind. In India, Anurag Kashyap is one. He's always seen me. He's always mostly offered me things that are challenging. Sudhir Mishra is another Indian filmmaker who always tries to put me in a very interesting way like after Tharez Minthal, he was the first director who actually cast me in a very funny gangster character who tries to speak English which was also very intriguing that how did he see me in that. So I had to say you're some funny role. What film was it? This was called Yeh Sali Zindagi. Oh, This Bloody Life. Oh, okay, gotcha. So I had a very funny character. Tony, it was his name. He likes speaking English. He's a gangster. Yes, so you've worked with a lot of legends of the industry, Anurag's ear funds, Nawaz, Manoj, tons of people. Yeah, do you, because we consider all those people thespians and just the best at what they do. Do you seek out one of those collaborations of like these actors are attached as directors attach or is it more of the fact that you all are just attracted to more intriguing projects? And that's why you're kind of all worked together. Both. I guess both, yeah. Sometimes I, when I see, like one film I recently did Nawaz and Anurag both were in it. Hadi, right? Hadi, yeah. And I was, I was immediately, yeah, love to do this film because I hadn't met Anurag in two, three years at that point. So I thought it gives me an opportunity to meet him because I considered him a great friend. So, you know, I said yes to that film. Yeah. And Nawaz is a very, very dear friend. I often meet him and we chat a lot. Nawaz and I, whenever we meet, we like, our chats are long and about acting and about film industry and the problems and good things and bad things. We discuss quite a lot. He was our first interview in India. In Mumbai, yeah. We went to his office. Not our first interview ever. Our first interview ever. He knows. Oh, you do? I told him. Photograph and send it to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll send it to Nawaz. Yeah, yeah. But I would imagine, like, for example, if there's some artists and people that you have a relationship with, if they just, you wouldn't even need to read the script to hear the story. You just trust who they are. And if they said, I have a project and I'd like you to be involved, you say, yes. Yeah, because you know, there is a certain kind of quality attached to it now. And there's certain kind of integrity of all these people attached. Right. Yeah, it becomes easy that way. Yeah, yeah. And do you have, and I know you talked about, Meisner, do you have an acting philosophy at all? A broad question. Oh, yeah, I know. It's a very interesting question actually. It's, you know, I sometimes feel acting is like God. Like, if you want to know God, you've got to know every religion in a way. You've got to understand Islam, you've got to understand Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism. You've got to understand everything to understand God. And you take everything that's beautiful about all these religions so that you can connect with that ultimate power or whatever you call it. I find acting exactly the same way. You know, you pick things from here and there and... Meisner, Stanislavski, Stella Abba, Huda Hagan, yeah. It's what the things that resonate with you. Exactly, yeah, exactly. Whatever resonates with you, then it will enrich you and it will allow you to explore a better territory of acting in a way, you know? I try to do that actually. I read, you know, once I read about an actor, he said he loves to listen to a particular type of music during when he's shooting one film. So, you know, I tried that. So, you know, like, whatever helps, you know, you can get, because you're helpless when you're acting. Yes, 100%. You're very helpless. Yeah. Nobody is there to help you, not even the director. Yeah. Because nobody knows what's going on in you. It's you and your being in your head and your own set of problems. Yes. Are there characters... Because I've experienced this as an actor. There's some characters that I was fine and I did them and left, but then there's other characters that I did and I miss them very much and I wish I could do those characters again. Do you have any characters like that for you? Ah... You know, I wish I could do Thare Zameen Paragayan, actually. Yeah. Yeah, I wish. Because that was my first film. I was very nervous. I was not very... Not in the flow. As, you know, not in my... I wish I could do it again, actually. I know I would do a lot of things. Yeah, I was a bit kind of stiff, a bit nervous, a bit... Understandable. Because first opportunity, very big opportunity, and that, too, with a very big star, with a very big production house, a lot of things I didn't understand. How about Alpha? Do you miss Alpha at all? Oh, I wish I could, you know, go back and create more of Alpha. Yeah. I hope, you know, if the sequel is made. I hope so, too. Yeah, that would be fun to explore more this time. Do you enjoy watching yourself at all or do you hate it? Sometimes... Depends on the project. No, sometimes some moments you're like, ah, I wish I hadn't done that, or I wish I was more convincing, or I wish I had felt more something. Yeah. But sometimes you... I don't mind loving myself also, actually. I'm a bit of a narcissistic person. Yeah. But there are times... Yeah, is it wonderful? Because you have to, you know... You have to reserve. You will never... And you have to love your character. Oh, yeah. So if you love your character and you see your cell phone screen, and mind you, I'm not looking at myself at that time. Right. I'm looking at the character like, oh, please. It is me. Right. So loving it is also important. Yeah. So I do both, you know. Sometimes you get very... Oh, I wish I hadn't done that. Yeah, because oftentimes... Sometimes who you think the character is inside your head, you then see the character that's been captured on film. And sometimes you go, oh, that's not what I was trying to do. That's not what I was trying to do. But then there's times you can see it and go, oh, my goodness, it worked. Yeah, you know, there was a scene in Tariz Minper when I'm watching the match between my kid and the other kid. Yeah. Where he's losing and I'm very frustrated. When I was shooting that, I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm just seeing here, okay, this is, you know, it's okay. No big deal. But when I saw it on screen, that's my favorite scene in the film, actually. More than any other scene. And it's very strange how it works because often you think you're looking like, see, we can't see ourselves. Right. So you have this idea, this is how I'm looking right now. But when it comes on screen, your idea and that picture may not align. Or how they edited it. It happened how they edited it. Yeah. Like the play I was telling you that I'm doing, we finished the show the other night and this actress, her name is Marie, she said, man, I just act one, scene one, didn't feel very good. And we all said, no. And the audience was so, really? Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. Because it's shocking sometimes. Yeah. What artist that you've worked with, do you feel like you've learned the most from? Filmmaker, actor. Doesn't matter. Yeah, either. Anyone? Yeah. Of course, Dave is going to be a very big influence on me because I really learned a lot from watching him, how committed he was to this film, on the shoot, in post-production. Otherwise, also how he is with everyone on the sets, how he is compassionate and really loves everyone around and how he's understanding of each and everything that goes on. Then I was very lucky I worked with Arsene Singh just before him, after Dave's film. He's made a film called Dear Jesse, which won best film in Toronto. Dear Jesse, right? Dear Jesse. Best film in Toronto, best film Red Sea, I think an audience or somewhere. Working with him was also absolutely brilliant. I've never seen a filmmaker who never sits. He's constantly moving around. He's constantly thinking of the scene. He's constantly thinking of the movie. He's constantly coming to you as an actor. I mean, he would come to me suddenly and say, you know, try this thing, this. Then you go, ah, this works. Then he'll go away. Then he'll come back again and say, you know, maybe add something in front. And you know, so he's listening to the whole film like a musician. And he's also building it bit by bit, you know, second by second. I never had that experience before actually. So I'm hoping that I'm able to use, you know, all these elements into my work also as a filmmaker. But I think that's a great lesson. And that was a thought I wanted to know is I don't know how much you can share about what you're currently doing or some future things. But you do more than, I mean, obviously, people may not even know you were once an editor. They obviously know you as an actor, but you're also a writer and a director. Well, I am working on a, I am pretty much ready to direct a film. So my film is on this philosophy called non-dualism, adhvaitva, it's called in Hindi. I love that philosophy, which says that in essence we are all one. Everything on this planet, in essence, is one. We just come from one source. We don't know where we come from. We don't know where we were when we were born. We won't know where we're gonna go when we die. So this in between, we cling to so many ideas about ourselves. What are those ideas? And I'm seeing, the script is seen, this whole idea is seen through a perspective of a guy who thinks he's an actor, but he's not an actor. So this whole idea of identity is seen through his eyes. So I'm gonna finish the script and I will hopefully start working on it very soon. And how was that experience as a first-time director, correct? I've done direction, smaller things, but this will be the first feature. How was that experience for you? I love it. I say directing is very addictive, because it allows you to look at the complete picture and then build piece by piece and you know everything and you have this kind of idea of this whole universe. I think it is, it's a bigger addiction. Was it inspiring, I assume, to see all that Dev had to overcome and still finish his project? Very inspiring, very inspiring. And you know, he never complained about it. He never made it, oh look, you know, this happened. He was like just there all the time. He was laughing when he blew two in a chopper to Jakarta to get this nail in his finger bone. You know, he broke it and he came back and I was like, okay, now I'm watching the interviews and I'm going like, oh, you know, he never talked about these things. He just kept doing his work. He just kept focusing on the film. That was awesome. Well, I wanna thank you so much for sitting down with us. It's lovely that we won, we got to meet you and then sit down with you. This is absolutely a pleasure. I wanna finish it off with a little bit of rapid fire, though. Yeah, just quick questions. They're dumb. They're just silly questions. Nothing serious. Nothing serious. Coffee or Chai? Coffee. Favorite breakfast food? I don't take, I don't do breakfast now. I do intermittent fasting, so. And I've never been a very breakfast guy for a long time. Yeah, a lot like me. I will eat breakfast more because I have to, but I'm never hungry in the morning. Yeah, me too. That takes several hours. Me too, black coffee. And then talk to me in three hours. Yeah. Yeah. You both are weird. Breakfast is like the best meal of the day. Yeah, that means you do dinner also? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, yeah. I eat all the meals. But I eat one big meal somewhere. Oh, really? After, if I don't, I mean, I don't eat breakfast, so I make sure that there's one good substantial. Yeah. Favorite American food that you've tried? You know, hot dogs. Yes! Yes! Yes, man after my own heart. I've been missing it. I've not had one, so tell me where to go. I can tell you a couple places. I can tell you a couple places. Because I love, I love loading your hot dog with all the... Yes, there's a hot dog called Pink's. Pink's, okay. Pink's Hot Dog. Very famous hot dog place here in L.A. Pink's. Next question, it's gun-related. Is hot dog a sandwich? Hot dog, I mean. No, no, is hot dog, is it a sandwich? Is it a hot dog or a sandwich? It's a debate, it's an internet debate. No, I think hot dog is a hot dog, you know what I mean. Okay, but what's a sandwich? A sandwich is two pieces of bread? Sandwich, which doesn't have a hot dog. That's the best that's to me. A sandwich is anything that doesn't have the hot dog. All right. I think this sandwich is a debate. The sandwich is not a hot dog. The debate has just been ended by Vip and Sharma. Another one is cereal soup. No. Cereal and soup together? No, I'm saying, is it? Is cereal soup? What is soup? Soup is not a cereal. Cereal is not a soup. Yeah, but it's internet debate. People who want cereal to be soup are cereal lovers who want to. It's technically a soup, it's stuff inside liquid. So you're talking like that? I thought maybe it's like if you can, if soup is more of a meal. Thank you. Cereal is a good breakfast. We don't eat breakfast. This all goes back to that. Favorite comfort movie? Favorite comfort movie. Yeah. Yeah, it's a rainy day and you want to feel good and watch a movie. Any movie. You know, it depends on my remote control. And just name some that you want. Singing in the rain. Oh my goodness. Loves that movie. Yes. I love that movie too. That's a beautiful film. Favorite Indian movie? You know, my favorite Indian movie is a movie called Garam Hava. It's not big, it's roughly translated. So it's set in the independence area when India and Pakistan were being divided. Is it Hindi? It's in Hindi. Hindi. Yeah, it's one of the most beautiful films I've seen. Who did it come out? It came out 1970, somewhere where... Who's in it? Bharat Sani, very well-known actor who did a lot of theater also. What's it called again? Garam Hava. Okay. You know who knows it? My wife. I will send it to you. Like Kara Hava? And actually, another brilliant filmmaker. Sorry. Kara Hava? Kara? Kara Hava. No, it's not. I know you probably... It's your lunchtime now, bro. Because your breakfast is finished. No, your food. You know, another brilliant filmmaker that your wife would know is from Kolkata, Rithik Khattak. Oh yes. I know that. He's another amazing filmmaker that I really admire a lot. And unfortunately... You've seen a few of his films. Satyajit Ray is more known in the West, not him. I mean, people know him. I'm not saying he's completely unknown, but he's another brilliant filmmaker. I really admire his films. He did one about the partition, right? Rithvik Khattak. Partition? He was part of Bangladesh Partition. I thought he did film. I know we've seen a couple of his films. Favorite Hollywood actor? Right now, Mr. Murphy. Which one? Kylian. Oh, Kylian. He's so brilliant. Oh, he's so good. Did you see his work in Picky Blinders? Yes. That's the first one. Favorite TV show? Seinfeld. This part of the work. I'm a huge fan of Seinfeld. Huge. That is often something that's on as just white noise for us to fall asleep to as Seinfeld. Yeah. Mine's The Office. Yeah. In Parks and Recreation. And a favorite book? My favorite book right now is Autobiography of a Yogi. It's a brilliant book on all the questions anyone can have about God, religion, who are we, all that questions are answered in that. It has a beautiful description of Adam and Eve's story also in a very different way that we have been reading. And it's an eye-opener. It teaches you a lot about meditation and a lot about these questions, survival questions, or who we are questions. It's a brilliant book. So I've been lucky to kind of been reading it now. Yeah. Put that one down. Yeah. It's incredible. Well, thank you so much for sitting down with us, man. It was a pleasure to get the opportunity to, one, not only, obviously, see you in Monkey Man, but to be able to meet you there and then, ever, usually, you come over here, because we've seen, you're one of those actors that a lot of people don't realize how many of your movies that you've seen, of course, because you're like, you're supporting all this, you're supporting all this, and you're always so, so good. And so we've admired your work for a long time, but I want to thank you for sitting down with us. Thank you for sharing your work with the world, not only in India, but obviously now coming over to God, and I hope we get to see a lot more of those type of collaborations together. Yeah. And the one thing that is a common theme with every interview that we have had with artists from India, a common theme is not just the fact that the caliber of the talent is so high, but the quality of the character of the people is so high. And with each conversation, we finish an interview, and Corbin and I will talk privately and go, he doesn't eat breakfast. Well, that was, we'll say, well, that was, that was unbelievable. And you're just, it's very obvious by the way you, how you answer questions, like the book you read, the way you go about your choices, that the quality of who you are as an artist comes very much from the quality of who you are as a person. And even just the short amount of time we've been able to spend with you. So thank you for allowing us and for everybody who's here to just see a side of you and hear about your process and hear your personal life. And please keep anything you want us to be aware of that you are doing. We're fans, and we want to promote it and we want to see everything you're doing. So always let us know. Thank you so much. Of course. Of course. Well, I'm so happy and really thankful to you guys that you guys are doing this for so-called Bollywood, you know, you know, for some time debate over the words. Yeah, of course. That's brilliant that all the way here we are actually showing such great interest not only in the films, Indian films and also meeting people and doing this podcast for Indian, on Indian cinema. This is brilliant. I mean, we get so much inspiration from Bollywood in India. I have no qualms about saying it. You know, some of the best actors in the world come from this side of the world. You know, as we were speaking, there are a lot of great actors in other parts of the world also. Sure. So it's great that you are, you know, introducing us to the rest of the world. Yeah. Thank you for that actually. It's an honor to be here. Thank you. Thank you. It's, as I told you before, it's, we do it because we love Indian cinema and love Indian artistry. And it's good. The more we could, yeah. If it was bad, we wouldn't be doing it. We wouldn't talk about it. We wouldn't talk about it. We don't, we don't, we're never going to go to a premiere, see a film and not like it. You know, if we don't like the film, we say, go see this great film. Exactly. You can't do that. So thank you. Yeah. We love, we love India and Indian cinemas. Except for Bollywood. We are the Bollywood bootlickers. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know. Well, of course him. Thank you so much for coming on, man. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much.