Bokaro boy, Prashant Rai in Spider-Man sequel By TNN On August - 22 - 2013 prashant Irrfan was the Indian connect in The Amazing Spider-Man, and the film’s sequel now stars another Indian actor, Bokaro boy Prashant Rai. But unlike Irrfan, a seasoned actor who has starred in several international projects, Prashant has never acted in a film before. He went to New York three years ago to train in acting, and as fate would have it, ended up in a big-budget Hollywood franchise. Prashant says, “Coming from a small place like Bokaro in Jharkhand and not having acted before, it is a big achievement for me to directly work in a movie like The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Frankly, it’s not a big role, but if I compare it with other Indian actors who have worked abroad, then it’s a big achievement. Actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor, who have spent so many years in the industry, appear in a minute-long role, and there is so much hype about it!” Prashant says he landed an audition for the role through his agent and was selected. He says, “I trained under some of the best trainers in New York, and that helped me land the audition as well as clear it. The whole of the film was shot in New York. I have worked on it for about 15 days, putting in a total of 150 hours. My role is that of a tourist who is caught in the fight between Spider-Man and the villain Electro, played by Jamie Foxx. The scene is set in Times Square and some of my parts were shot in the Gold Coast studio in Long Island.” About sharing screen space with actors like Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx and Emma Stone, and working with director Marc Webb, Prashant says, “It was a great experience. I am new to the film world, and having worked with such people in such a big film is a great achievement. Nobody differentiated between me and the other big actors. Everybody was treated equally. I felt good.” Shooting in minus five degree Celsius temperatures wasn’t a cakewalk, though. “It was windy and we shot in the night without wearing any jackets or sweaters. I learned that movie making is not fun, it involves a lot of hard work,” says the actor. Prashant was working as a software engineer in Mumbai when the acting bug bit him. After auditioning for many production houses in Bollywood, he decided to go to New York to train in acting. “In Mumbai, I have many friends who are into acting, and I thought I could be better. I tried for a few months in 2010. Then, I thought if I have to get into this, I better get trained. I took part-time training for a month at Anupam Kher’s school in Mumbai, and then went to New York,” says Prashant, who studied at the Stella Adler Studio in NY. Even though he is planning to continue working in New York, Prashant says, “My family is here, and Indian cinema is close to my heart. So, I would love to do a Bollywood film.”
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 10:41:45 +0000
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