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MUMBAI: Bollywood stars descended at the premiere for Oscar winning director Ang Lee’s latest film, ‘Life of Pi’, in Mumbai.
The film, which stars Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Suraj Sharma in pivotal roles, and is based on Yann Martel’s award winning novel of the same name, was very well received by the audiences at the premiere at PVR.
Industry veterans like Naseeruddin Shah with wife, Hema Malini, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, along with directors R Balki with wife Gauri Shinde, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ director Kabir Khan, David Dhawan, Kunal Kohli, Anil Kapoor, Minissha Lamba and Amrita Rao all showed up to support Tabu and Irrfan.
Tabu looked royal and elegant in a floor length black anarkali churidar, and Irrfan shocked one and all by donning a suit. Irrfan and Tabu are no strangers to Hollywood, as they have previously acted in Mira Nair’s acclaimed film ‘The Namesake’.
However, the internationally acclaimed Irrfan Khan is no slave to big ticket numbers, and says he has already surpasses the Khans’ collections of 100 crores and 200 crores.
Claims the actor, “‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has earned more than Rs 800 crore, Spider-Man must have gone beyond that and ‘Life Of Pi’ will definitely go bigger because the cost itself is Rs 500 crore. So, I am working in both kinds of films and I am in the Rs 1,000 crore zone.”
Although he is a big name and has many international offers on hand, Irrfan says he will never move permanently to Hollywood. “I get a lot of Hollywood films and if I want to shift there and live there, I could do that. But then I will have to depend on each and every film that is coming my way for survival and I don’t want to do that. I want to choose subjects that are special to me, giving me something extra as an actor to engage myself and that’s why I do Hollywood film, otherwise, I don’t get money.”
On the dynamics of the numbers game in Hollywood, Irrfan said, “It doesn’t mean that if it’s a $100 million film I am getting a million dollar. It’s not like that…Sometimes I lose money. But the kind of films I did has given me a longer life as an actor. The prime thing for me is to be interested in this job. Once I lose interest, then what will I do?”
Filmmakers cast him because he is a “sale-able” actor, he added.
“I feel, I am sale-able otherwise nobody would have cast me. Industry is not here for social service, they cast you because you get that much money on the table. I have my own limitations, I have my own market and that’s why I am being cast in a film, which is (made on a budget of) around Rs.20 crore or Rs.50 crore,” said the 45-year-star.
