A Mighty Heart - Irrfan Khan interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
IRRFAN Khan talks about playing a Pakistani intelligence officer known only as Captain in Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart – the true story of the kidnap and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
The interview was conducted during the Cannes Film Festival where A Mighty Heart was given its world premiere.
Q: How did this project start for you?
A: It was very simple. All of the films that have meant a lot to me – like Warrior or The Namesake and A Mighty Heart which means an awful lot to me – all came the same way, just like that. I’m very grateful. They just called me and I didn’t have to audition, which I’m happy about, because in India we don’t do auditions. So, for this film I had a call and they said: “There’s a director who wants to meet you..” But I was filming so I said I couldn’t meet him for a month. And then they told me it was Michael Winterbottom and he’s coming back to meet me in a month so I said “fantastic”.
Q: Did you know at that point what the film was about?
A: No, it was just a meeting. Somebody gave me a hint that the story was based in Pakistan and that the role was a very strong person. I sent them some photographs and I don’t know whether they made up their mind from the photograph or by watching a trailer of The Namesake, I really don’t know. But I had a great meeting with Michael and he told me about the story and then I read Mariane’s book and that completely grabbed me. The way that she dealt with this crisis was incredible. I read the book first when they were still working on the script and that was enough for me.
Q: What were your initial thoughts about it?
A: I thought it was a very, very important film in terms of a story that should be told, it should be told to everybody – Mariane’s way of looking at things, her way of looking at the tragedy, it should become contagious you know. I feel that as an actor, if I could do these kinds of stories that can possibly change things somewhere, then I’m doing my job. I’m giving back something to the world because it cannot be one way – I cannot keep consuming and doing things just for entertainment.
Q: Did you meet your character, Captain?
A: No, unfortunately I couldn’t. They were trying to fix a meeting and I had told them it was necessary for me to meet him. They tried but they couldn’t arrange it and instead they fixed a phone call from Pakistan to India and because the two countries don’t have a very easy relationship – and him being in the secret service – it was a tricky situation for him. We talked for a bit but it was almost like I could feel him being uncomfortable with the situation. And the line was not clear, I was trying to tape it and nothing really happened. I was trying very hard to listen to what he was saying and it’s a very uncomfortable situation to talk to somebody who is in the secret service and I’m aware of this fact and my mind is saying: “Don’t ask too many hard questions.”
I had a lot of questions after reading the book and so many queries as to what happened, and how much did he know, but it’s impossible for him to say. I couldn’t meet him and I relied on the book and whatever Mariane’s version was about Captain. Obviously, I would have like to have heard Captain’s version of the story, from his perspective. And I would have liked to have seen him, and seen what he is. It doesn’t mean I would have incorporated his version but I would have seen the man inside and got what his take was about everything and how he goes about investigating a case.
Q: Did you meet Mariane?
A: No I couldn’t. I was supposed to meet her in Paris but then the schedule was such that I couldn’t do it. I went to London and we had a little workshop for accents because, as a Pakistani man, he has a different accent, different inflections to me and that’s important because it does make you feel calm when you hear him. He does have authority when he speaks. So that was important for me, to acquire that calmness so that when he speaks people should feel at ease and trust him.
Q: Where did you film the majority of your scenes?
A: In India. We had a house in Poona. They choose a house where they had to do a lot of security things because of the media.
Q: Because or Brad Pitt and Angelina? Or for you as well?
A: For them. I think they are much bigger stars than us. I never imagined that it would be such a maddening rush with the paparazzi and it became difficult for me to relate to Angelina as a character because of the newspapers, you know. I was supposed to arrive two weeks after they started shooting and it was in the newspapers every day. I was supposed to interact with her as a character so it started polluting my mind, she is such a big celebrity, she is this, she is that, so I stopped reading the newspapers because I never wanted to get influenced by their version.
Q: So you actually met for the first time doing a scene?
A: Yes. Right up until we started shooting I wasn’t introduced to her and I think it shows in the takes. She said to Michael: “Why aren’t we being introduced? Is it for the reality of the moment?” And then we met.
Q: Tell me how Michael WInterbottom is different from the other directors you’ve worked with?
A: Because he doesn’t direct you, he trusts you completely once he has done the casting. He has a very keen eye about the person and he’s looking for the elements he needs for them to find the character. So, half of his work is done in the casting and during the shoot, because he shoots with a DV camera, there’s no time restriction, you can go on improvising things. And he allows you to improvise a lot.
Q: Did you like working that way?
A: I loved it. Actors depend on lines, you know, they depend on what is there in the script. But there is no safety net.
Q: Isn’t that scary?
A: It was liberating, actually. Because that’s where you start connecting to the situation and the character because you have to be on your toes all the time.
Q: What do you hope that people will take from the film?
A: I hope that people will see that here was a group of people, from different parts of the world, who all got together for the right cause. And it didn’t matter from which religion they came from, from what country they came from. And I hope that this message comes across and I hope that Mariane’s way of looking at tragedy comes across, her concern about ignorance and about violence and about people being influenced and misused again and again because of misery and of ignorance.
I hope people could have the space to understand different religions and different customs. I wish we could allow ourselves to see good things in different religions because every religion has noble things. But because of ignorance, because of fear, territorial conflicts, political conflicts, religion is being used again and again and it’s not going to do good to human society.
Q: How did you get into acting?
A: It’s a strange thing because nobody from my family or community was particularly involved in acting. I was a very shy guy and I think that the impression people had about me was something I wanted to change. I dallied with business for a while but I knew that I wanted to do something else. And then I watched certain films at a time when there was some actors involved in what became known as parallel cinema and they were doing completely new things. I was maybe 15 and I was fascinated by it, they were experiencing something completely beyond their own personalities. And I wanted to do that.
So, I searched for a school where I could learn and there was a place in Delhi where all these actors were coming from so I went there. My parents didn’t really approve, they wanted me to do something like become a teacher or doctor, what the middle classes consider “honourable”. I said to them that I would become a drama teacher but I knew I wouldn’t do that, but it kept them happy. I was so eager, so desperate to get into the drama school I even lied to them – you’re supposed to do 10 plays before you can qualify for a place, but I had only done four or five, but I said: “Yes, I’ve done 10..” I had to do it.
At that time my mental state was such that if I didn’t get in I would have gone mad. Because for me the life I was leading was finished, it was so boring, so repetitive, doing the same thing again and again and I wanted to do something where I would connect. So I went to the drama school and things started happening after that.
Q: Things are going well for you now. What do you hope for the future?
A: I wish I could work in different countries. Every country has their own sensibility when it comes to film and it’s always good to interact with people who have a different kind of outlook. My life changed when I did Warrior. I was tired at the time because I had been doing a lot of television and I was finding it very restricting, I was even thinking about leaving acting because it was so boring. The Warrior came at the right time and it changed my perception altogether and I regained my interest in acting. It just intoxicated me when I saw the film.
Q: Are you a family man?
A: I have two kids – one is four and the other is nine, both boys. I think it’s the most precious thing in the world to have children. I miss them all the time when we’re apart.
Read our review of A Mighty Heart