The organic journey of Nargis Fakhri

Diva on how Bollywood and Hollywood can learn from each other’s aesthetic choices

NEW DELHI:

Nargis Fakhri has embarked on a journey to the larger-than-life terrain of Hollywood with film Spy. The New York-born Bollywood actor says that among the dissimilarities that widen the gap between the Hindi silver screen and the West, there is one similarity that weaves them together — the pool of talent.

Nargis, who ventured into Bollywood opposite Ranbir Kapoor in film Rockstar in 2011, added that Hindi filmdom and Hollywood — two of the most prominent film industries of the world — can achieve more success by learning from each other.



“At the end of the day, the one commonality that both Hindi cinema and Hollywood share is that they are full of talented and inspirational people. Outside of this, there are many differences from the scheduling and rehearsals to promotion and directing techniques,” said Nargis in an email interaction from New York.

Most often, words like ‘bigger, grander, louder’ are used to define Bollywood films, which are painted on a big screen canvas filled with myriad hues of feelings along with music and dance, whereas Hollywood films are devoid of the music hoopla and considered more subtle in their live action dramas.

Nargis has crossed borders with a mission in mind — not to fade away, but leave a lasting impression.

“I’m hopeful to be another person to be able to reinforce that we [Indian actors] are not just there to make up numbers, but to influence, add and inspire Hollywood,” she said in support of the several Indian actors like Irrfan Khan and Priyanka Chopra, who are making their mark in the West.

For her first Hollywood outing, Nargis has picked Spy, an action-comedy film, which is directed by Paul Feig and has a star-studded cast including Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, Jude Law and Miranda Hart.

Nargis essays a character with evil intentions as she comes into the picture to buy a nuke for a terrorist organisation. She mentions that the Hollywood film steers away from the “outdated stereotyping of female” in spy films, which show women as a distraction prop.

“The old school, misrepresentation and outdated stereotyping has been flipped wonderfully by the mind of Paul Feig, who in my opinion is a maverick in modern cinema. His vision created a female spy which Melissa plays amazingly and by the end of the movie you’ll wonder why it took so long for there to be an awesome female spy who saves the world,” she said.

Nargis took the first step towards the world of glamour with modelling in 2005. After Rockstar, she did films on a wide variety of topics ranging from serious to fun like Main Tera Hero and Madras Cafe. The actor says her journey in showbiz was “unplanned and organic”, adding that she “has always been a go-with-the-flow type of person”.

“I’m really excited about furthering my film career in Bollywood and Hollywood. In Bollywood, I have three upcoming films. I’m also looking to becoming more vocal on many issues outside of the studio.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd,  2015.

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