Hollywood actor Roger Narayan as Prithviraj’s villain

Prithviraj and Parvathy’s '

My Story

' has found its antagonist in Hollywood actor Roger Narayan.

The star, who has acted in films such as 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' and the series 'The Leftovers', is all set to make his Malayalam debut with the film, helmed by costume designer-turned-director Roshni Dinaker.

In a telephonic conversation from the US, Roger confirms that he has indeed signed the movie. “I play the villain named David. The bulk of my portions will be shot in Portugal, except for a few days in India,” says the actor.

Roger had earlier this year made his foray into Indian cinema with the Kannada blockbuster

U-Turn

. The actor, whose screen credits include English TV series such as Weeds, Castle and

How I Met Your Mother

, tells us that he hopes working in Malayalam wouldn’t pose much of a challenge as he’s already familiar with the language.
“I can understand Malayalam because I have relatives from Palakkad and Trivandrum. So, I grew up listening to a lot of the language at home. Also, I am fluent in Tamil and Sanskrit, so it’s easy to speak Malayalam. I will be dubbing for myself because I think my pronunciation is fine. Obviously, I look forward to brushing up a lot of things for the movie,” Roger says.

On taking up My Story, the actor says, “I have always had high regard for Malayalam films from my early days in theatre. The emphasis in Malayalam and Bengali films has always been on the story than the actors. That’s not something you see in mainstream commercial movies in India.” A self-confessed fan of Mohanlal and Mammootty, Roger says that he’s eager to join the team in Portugal by the end of this month. “Both Prithviraj and Parvathy are gifted actors and I consider it a privilege to work with them. My challenge is to match up to them.”
Roger is currently working on two Hollywood films. “I have just finished shooting for 417 Miles directed by Mainak Dhar, who has assisted director Prakash Jha. The film’s got an Indian story but it is shot entirely in San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, I am not at liberty to reveal anything about the film that I am currently shooting,” he signs off.