Being a ‘white face’, I’d mostly get offers of colonial characters: Edward

My life changed when I saw my first Hindi film, Lagaan. EDWARD SONNENBLICK, Actor

American actor Edward Sonnenblick came to India 14 years ago, and has been here ever since. You have seen him in several films, TV and web shows, even if you don’t recognise him by his name. Recently seen in RRR, he says he had learnt Hindi even before coming to India to try his luck. “My life changed when I saw my first Hindi film, Lagaan (2001). I loved the music, the language, people, costumes. I watched it a few times, then 150 Bollywood films in the next year. After a visit to India, I couldn’t think of anything except going back,” he says.

Sonnenblick, who has been a part of films such as Veere Di Wedding (2018), Kesari (2019), and the web show Bose: Dead or Alive, sensed it very early on that he could land roles easily due to his looks and nationality, instead of it becoming a hindrance. “There was a niche for someone like me in the industry... White faces got colonial characters. That’s the majority of roles that come my way. But I do get other roles to play. I starred in a short film, Saving Chintu (2020), where I played a regular, nice American guy trying to adopt a kid,” adds the 39-year-old.

However, even colonial chaaracters are not the same. He says, “In RRR, the villain is onedimensional, that’s what you expect from that kind of a film; that’s fine. No villain thinks he is a villain, you have got to play it from that perspective.”