Lion star Dev Patel talked to Reuters this week about his views on politics, typecasting in the film industry, and his next film project.
Patel was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award at this year's Oscars for his role in Lion, the tale of an Indian boy adopted by Australians who sets out to find his long-lost family.
The actor spoke at the Chivas Icon awards ceremony in Dubai, where he was honoured for his #Lionheart campaign, which works with underprivileged children in India and elsewhere.
Here are excerpts of his interview with Reuters:
On immigrants
"I'm a product of immigrants. So if you ask me about migration or integration or freedom to travel within borders I'm very pro-[all of] that. There are voices of division, divisive voices, and negative voices. But through our art and films such as Lion and many other films this year – Moonlight for instance – we can break down those barriers of prejudice."
On typecasting
"That is something that actors such as myself have to constantly try and defend, you know just playing who we are. [...] I feel really proud of being able to be a part of representing a diverse cinema and that's breathing life into diverse stories so that people that look like myself have something to aspire to on screen."
On #Lionheart campaign
"There are 80,000 children that go missing on the streets of India every year, and there are about 11 million children in total on the streets. And what we're doing is breathing life into one of those stories.
On terrorism seeping into films
That story in particular really affected me because, at the end of Slumdog Millionaire, we danced on this train platform... And during those attacks, you know, a gunman walked into that station and unloaded an AK-47 (assault rifle) on to hundreds of travellers.. [...] So when there were talks of a story going to be made, a film going to be made I really wanted to be a part of breathing life into that and making sure it is done with a level of humanity and sincerity."
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