{"id":10930,"date":"2012-02-09T15:47:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T15:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2012\/02\/09\/slumdog-millionaire-to-kidnap-and-ransom\/"},"modified":"2012-02-09T15:47:56","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T15:47:56","slug":"slumdog-millionaire-to-kidnap-and-ransom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/09\/slumdog-millionaire-to-kidnap-and-ransom\/","title":{"rendered":"Slumdog Millionaire to Kidnap and Ransom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Indian Actor Madhur Mittal on how he went from Oscar-winning film to ITV drama<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

ITV\u2019S gripping drama Kidnap and Ransom is back on our screens later this month for a second season. <\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Trevor Eve returns as international hostage negotiator Dominic King and this time he\u2019s negotiating the release of the Mehtas, a British Asian family kidnapped while on holiday visiting their son in Kashmir. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Indian actor Madhur Mittal \u2013 best known for playing Salim in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire \u2013 plays kidnapper Anwar Razdan. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Here he reveals how he got involved in Kidnap and Ransom and how he hopes to move to London to pursue his acting career. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

What prompted you to want to star in Kidnap and Ransom?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I was in Mumbai when I read the script. I thought it was great. I loved the activity; there is so much happening. I think it\u2019s a great project to be a part of. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I thought my character, Anwar, was great too. He\u2019s a very human guy. He\u2019s not that bad a person as you first think he is. He\u2019s very grey, which is how most people normally are and it\u2019s his situation that has made him the kind of person he is \u2013 the pressure of putting food on the table, growing up without any education, in a really poor family. Kidnapping is something he is pushed into by his circumstances. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

When the handover for the initial kidnapping goes wrong, Anwar ends up hijacking a bus full of tourists. How does Anwar try to maintain control in a situation that is spiralling out of control?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

To be honest, when he gets on that bus I think he is more scared than anyone else because he\u2019s just witnessed the death of his father. He\u2019s on a bus full of foreigners and there are policemen all around him and snipers pointing at him. There is no way out and he didn\u2019t plan any of it.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Anwar is so scared that he\u2019s scary. He himself doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s going to do and that unpredictability is frightening for everyone. I think it\u2019s a real test of his character because it\u2019s as extreme a situation as you can get yourself into.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

What was your approach in playing Anwar? <\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Anwar is so organic and so real, I wanted to just feel his character and do it rather than research similar characters. He\u2019s a very simple guy and there\u2019s not that much complexity to him.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

How does Anwar compare to other characters that you\u2019ve played?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Anwar is very different to other characters I\u2019ve played because he is really just doing this because he needs to rather than because he wants to. In Slumdog Millionaire I played Salim, and he loved being a bad-ass because he loved to show off and loved the money. However, for Anwar it\u2019s need because he\u2019s trying to get his family out of the gutter. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ever going to do this again; it was a one time thing. I have never played anyone who gets pushed so much to the extreme.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Do you like Anwar as a character?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I very much like Anwar because he loves his parents and respects his family. I can relate to him on that level. I think family is the one constant throughout life and if you don\u2019t have very good relations with them or don\u2019t respect what they\u2019ve done for you it\u2019s very sad. I am whatever I am because of my family.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

How does Anwar view Dominic King, the hostage negotiator? <\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Anwar knows Dominic is there to try and help them all. I think there is a mutual admiration between the two of them. Dominic knows it\u2019s not Anwar\u2019s fault as he didn\u2019t ask for this to happen. Dominic understands his psyche. I love the relationship between both characters. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The drama is set in Kashmir but was actually filmed in South Africa. Did you enjoy filming in South Africa?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It was wonderful filming in Cape Town. The city is amazing.\u00a0Between filming days I went surfing and climbed mountains. The people were always smiling and happy and I enjoyed their good music, great food and beautiful landscape.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As a native of India, did the dressed sets remind you of home? <\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I was born in Agra, where the Taj Mahal is, but have been living in Mumbai for 15 years with my parents and my younger brother. We moved to Mumbai because I wanted to be an actor.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The sets in Cape Town do remind me of home. I think it\u2019s quite believable what the production achieved, with all the props and finding the right locations. They used proper old Indian cars and rickshaws and the policemen look exactly the same. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Do you hope to do more British drama?<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to do more drama in the UK and hope to move to London. I\u2019ve done a lot of work at home in India but I\u2019d like to grow as an actor and do more variety of work. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Also, I want to come to London as I have never done theatre and I really want to.\u00a0I used to be a stage performer. I started off as a dancer and I used to be a Michael Jackson impersonator \u2013 I did more than a 1,000 shows all over the world before I was 13 years old. I then moved on to acting so I would like to bring these two things together.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Kidnap and Ransom, ITV 1, Thursday 23 February, 9pm<\/em><\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indian Actor Madhur Mittal on how he went from Oscar-winning film to ITV drama ITV\u2019S gripping drama Kidnap and Ransom is back on our screens later this month for a second season. Trevor Eve returns as international hostage negotiator Dominic King and this time he\u2019s negotiating the release of the Mehtas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}