Writer/director Iqbal Rashid concedes “Touch of Pink” is semi-autobiographical and as such, casting the role of Alim was particularly important to him personally, as well as from a filmmaker’s point of view. “Alim’s a difficult character, he’s really quite neurotic – as am I. But Jimi keeps you rooting for Alim, which is vital. He brings his own boyish good looks, charm, and charisma to the role,” says Iqbal Rashid.
INTERVIEW WITH JIMI MISTRY ('Alim'):
There seems to be this subgenre of film with Indians coming to terms with their Indian culture. Why do you think that’s occurring?
I think it keeps occurring because these are new stories that are being told. You’re getting the second and third generation people, especially from the U.K, and they have specific stories they want to tell. In the U.K. since “East is East,” that really did break [in theaters] and people not only went, “God, you can make films like this and they can be financially successful,” but it’s opened doors for a lot of people. In the U.K., it’s very much in the mainstream now. There’s a lot more films like that, and like this, being made.
Even if you’re not from that part of the culture or backgrounds, other people seem interested in new stories. They seem to have latched on to this whole idea. There is a culture clash genre now and it’s mainly comedy. Culture clash comedy, and this is a comedy – “Touch of Pink.” Although the difference with this is it’s a different kind of approach. I don’t think it’s so broad. The main character I play is going through a hell of a lot and he happens to be gay. You are approaching a lot of different things here in the same film, which is a step forward.
Is it a secret within the Indian culture that there are gay Indians?
Yeah, I mean I think so. Ian [Iqbal Rashid] kind of knows a lot about this, more than I do. The character of Khaled within this, the cousin who comes on to me at the end, he kind of represents a lot of people that Ian knows and has grown up with, and are gay. And due to cultural reasons, or reasons within their community or family, they do get married and they have lots of children and they live their lives according to how they should. This is very, very prevalent. And that character represents that.
There are parallels between the director’s background and your character. Did you feel you were playing out his experiences?
Oh yeah, this is autobiographical. Very much so.
How strange is that to have the guy who lived the experiences as your director?
It was something that really intrigued me. I have worked with a writer/director before but…It’s 11 years since he wrote the first draft of this. And within those 11 years the script has changed and he’s grown. How he’s developed as a person, that character has grown with him. This is a very important part of his life. So that immediately was something to get excited about as an actor. You’re like, “Wow, this is going to be really important to him. So if it’s going to be really important to him, it’s going to be important to all of us because I love the way he’s written the script.”
But in the process as an actor, it’s a very strange one because you have to strike a balance, as a straight guy playing a gay guy. A lot of gay characters in movies today are very stereotypical or extreme or whatever, so you have to strike a balance. And also, the guy who is directing you is the guy that you’re supposed to be portraying in a way.
I like to do mimics, I like mimicking people. The first time I went into rehearsals, I did it all a bit too extreme. [Ian] said, “Jimi, I don’t want you to play me. I want you to play you. And I want to take a part of your character and create the person on the page.” That was a great piece of advice, albeit that there are several times within the script that I pushed Ian into it. Ian’s friends and family come out of the screening and go, “Oh my God. The way you said that line is Ian,” which is important.
PAGE 2: Jimi Mistry on Kissing Men and Canada Substituting for England
