A bad man for a just cause
Dharamsala, 2 April 2003: A face people love to hate in the movies. A versatile and well-known actor both in Hollywood and Bollywood. Gulshan Grover, the quintessential bad man in movies is here in town to do his part in the Tibetan movie, Four Harmonious Friends, presently under production. Grover has around 300 films under his belt and he thinks the Tibetan movie will be a great addition. We see a generous and concerned human being behind what people have always wanted him to be on screen. An excerpt from a short interview with Tibet.net
Q: How did you first come to know about the Tibetan issue?
A: Everybody knows about the Tibetan issue for a long time. I feel that Tibetans have suffered a lot and their cause is just. I have also heard a lot of things from many friends like Goldie Hawn and Steven Segal.
Q: What made you become involved in the Tibetan movie?
A: When Pema Dhondup the director brought me the script. I found it absolutely fascinating. The reason because most of the films made so far on Tibet has been only about either monks and monasteries or earlier years of Tibet. No one has touched the topic of today: Tibetan youth who have been living in exile, about their problems, their thinking and their confusions. That reflects the problem of the entire youth. So the film is very fascinating. On top of that we have a bunch of very talented team here. Pema is trained from the USA, University of Southern California, the director of photography is from a film school in Germany, the assistant is from Italy and also I want to do put my contribution to the Tibetan cause.
Q: What is your impression of Dharamsala, the place and people?
A: The people here are wonderful, very warm, friendly, nice and affectionate. The elders are so innocent. But Dharamsala as a place is disappointing, it needs better infrastructure, better road and cleaner environment.
Q: Do you see any possibility of Bollywood making a film on Tibet?
A: Why not, definitely. I have mentioned about this film to my friends in Bollywood. For instance I was telling Mahesh Bhatt whom I respect a lot about this film. He was absolutely fascinated, in fact he got on the phone to speak to Pema and extended every possible help. I mentioned this to various other people. Even the entire media has been haunting me in Bombay to talk about this film because they all feel that the subject matter the director has taken up is very relevant. We already know a lot about the fight that has been going for the just cause of Tibet. However what about the youth who are born here in exile?Some of them who don’t even know about what their homeland looks like. I am very sure that as the media and many Bollywood personalities have reacted so strongly, there will be films in Bollywood too on Tibet.
Q: Do you play a negative role?
A: Yes, I play a negative role in this film. My only concern is I love the Tibetan people so much, but in the film I am shown as being very nasty to them.(laughs)