Rahul has a surprise for you

After having played several soft and sensitive roles, the actor now becomes a completely different character in his latest film The Whisperers.

Rahul Bose is an actor with multiple facets, with his head in the sky and feet firmly rooted to the earth.

He has brought laurels to India, not only in the field of cinema but also in sports as a rugby player.

To his credit are a number of international film awards, besides international recognition for his films not only as an actor but also as a director.

He talks about his latest film The Whisperers at its launch and shares his thoughts on various topics.

His latest project

At the outset, I ask him about the film The Whisperers and his involvement in the project.

"The Whisperers is an English film in which Manoj Bajpai and I play the lead characters. Manoj Bajpai and I are appearing for the first time together in a film. I was involved in this project from its conceptual stage in the sense that I have written the screenplay of the film too."

Rahul adds that although he has been saddled with the image of a sober, introverted and sensitive character in film after film, his character in The Whisperers will be a sort of surprise, in contrast to his earlier films.

"I play a character who is very talkative and can talk endlessly for hours. In fact, I literally play a chatterbox!"

Rahul is gung-ho about the project.

"We all make choices in life, and face the consequences. This is the story of choice and its consequences. It is a dark physiological thriller played out against the backdrop of one man's life, his rise to fame and his fall from grace. It is a story of complicated emotions and psychology of human mind."

Rahul admits that he shares a high comfort level with producer Ashok Rao, a US-based entrepreneur who is also involved in a crossover romantic comedy called My Bollywood Wife and Amelia Earhart, a biopic on the life of America's most famous aviatrix.

"In fact, Ashok was not the only person I had approached as a writer. Two more persons were interested in the project, but I decided to go for Ashok because he appeared to be equally enthusiastic and passionate about the project and we started sharing a great comfort level".

Rahul is quite happy working under the direction of Rajeev Virani.

"Rajeev is a successful film, music video maker. He has established his credentials in multiple camera productions, like sports event for sports channel ESPN, style magazines, talk shows etc. The Whisperers will be launched this month and will be ready for release by the second quarter of 2006."

Rahul, who is making waves in film festivals and winning awards, believes that these all are very humbling experiences.

"Going to film festivals is more like being yourself, meeting friends, enjoying yourself, that's it, and achievements if any are icing on the cake."

Rahul concedes that although awards are important, he is happy that slowly but steadily Indian cinema is going global because it's good for the Indian industry on the whole.

Switching roles

He has represented India in rugby, which is a game of toughies while also portraying soft, lovable, sensitive and compassionate characters.

How difficult is it to switch from a tough player to an actor playing soft characters?

"It is not difficult because we all play different roles in life, which might be contradictory in nature, very effectively, like we may be the loving and doting father at home, a stern boss in the office but we are equally effective in both our roles. It's all within us, so it doesn't require much effort to switch from one role to another. It's all within us."

How does he describe his journey as a person in the industry after working with filmmakers ranging from Govind Nihalani to Aparna Sen who hails from the Satyajit Ray school of filmmaking?

"There is nothing dramatic in it, since I am of the opinion that the process of this graduation has been gradual towards growth in a very, very natural way."

(With Inputs from Atul Srivastav)