Mindy Kaling had a hard time speaking Hindi for heist film
American actor Mindy Kaling, who has Indian roots, says that it was difficult to learn Hindi for her latest movie Ocean’s 8, a spinoff of the franchise that started with Ocean’s Eleven (2001).
Kaling says, “When I was cast in Ocean’s 8, I didn’t think there would be much prep, but I ended up doing more than on any movie I’ve worked on.”
She explains, “I had to become fluent enough in Hindi that I could speak it with ease in a couple of scenes and that wasn’t easy because I don’t speak any Indian languages.
“I was raised speaking English only, because my parents spoke two different Indian languages, so the only language we all had in common was English. I also shadowed a jeweller, so that I could learn how to hold all the instruments of the trade.”
In the film, Kaling plays Amita, a jewellery maker, who is part of an all-woman crew put together for a big-time jewellery heist.
A sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, Ocean’s 8 stars Sandra Bullock as the heist ringleader Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney’s original character Danny Ocean. After getting out of jail, she recruits seven women — played by Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, and Helena Bonham Carter — to help her pull off a jewellery heist at the annual Met Gala in New York.
The film will release in India on June 22.
I don’t speak any Indian languages. I was raised speaking English only, because my parents spoke two different Indian languages, so the only language we all had in common was English
MINDY KALING ACTOR