I’ve no qualms about nudity: Irrfan

Weren���t you apprehensive about shooting a film in the US that doesn���t portray the FBI in a favourable light?
America makes a bigger pretence of democracy than us. International films, including Michael Winterbottom���s Road to Guantanamo, have presented a more graphic version of how people were wrongfully detained by the FBI. We���ve not been able to show 10 per cent of the trauma caused by wrongful imprisonment, torture and attempts to extract false confession out of Muslims for being terrorists.
Would you call this a landmark in the context of mainstream Hindi cinema?
Only time will tell.For me, Dev. D is a landmark for the way it adapted our literature.
Has your religious identity ever been under the scanner during your US visits?
I���ve faced a bias on the security level when twice (once in LA and in New York) I was detained at immigration. It was unnerving when I was taken to a room and disallowed interaction. They must���ve found someone suspicious with a similar name. How can they make such mistakes with their sophisticated system? I didn���t go through even one per cent of the torture that terror suspects with Muslim identities go through at detention camps. Imagine the vulnerability when they���re forced to strip. I told Kabir (Khan) about media reports in London of FBI agents gagging a terror suspect and pissing on his face! I insisted that this be included because the power of cinema often makes people notice things that they wouldn���t otherwise.
It was surprising when you recently mentioned that you���re uncomfortable with on screen nudity...
When Jennifer Lynch wanted me in the buff for a lovemaking scene in Hissss, I told her that in India, we sleep with our clothes on. The film���s milieu is an orthodox South Indian family. I have no qualms about nudity. I���d strip for that kind of a role. I���ve no problems if a film is about titillation and has nudity. But I���ve a problem when a film is finding an excuse to titillate. Besides, how many women are dying to see me naked on screen? (laughs)
Your Choli Ke Peeche co-star, Seema Rahmani, pledged that you are a better actor than SRK...
I don���t compare myself to anyone. SRK is a charmer who engages people to portray an aspirational reality. My acting doesn���t create a reality where there���s a filter between the audience and me. It doesn���t matter whether I���m called a great actor or not. What would make a difference is when I manage to draw as much audience as SRK and command to work with a director and a story that I want to.
Does your work in Bollywood ever reach international directors when they cast you?
n I don���t think so. Overseas, Hindi films still haven���t crossed the NRI market. They have a dedicated audience that largely comprises migrants. During the promotion of Billu..., I had seen how a team of Germans camped for three days in London to get a peek at Bollywood. But this constitutes one per cent of Bollywood���s overseas
viewership.
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