RRR actor Edward Sonnenblick: Being a white face, I would only get colonial characters in India

You have seen him in many popular films, TV and web shows, even if you don’t recognize him by his name. Edward Sonnenblick came to India 14 years ago, and has been here ever since.

Recently seen in SS Rajamouli’s RRR, the American actor says he had learnt Hindi even before he came to India to try his luck. “My life changed when I saw my first Hindi film, Lagaan (2001). It was fantastic, I had never seen anything like it. I just loved the music, the language, costumes, people. I watched it a few times, and then another 150 Bollywood films in the next year. I fell in love with the films from 1960s and 70s. Then I visited India, travelled around, and came back. After that visit, I couldn’t really think of anything except going back to India I love,” he gushes.

He very early on sensed that he could land roles easily due to his nationality and looks, 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. I do get a lot of other roles to play. I starred in a short film, Saving Chintu, which tore up the festival circuit. I played a regular, nice American guy trying to adopt a kid,” adds Sonnenblick, who has been a part of films such as Veere Di Wedding, Firangi, and the web show Bose: Dead or Alive with Rajkummar Rao.

“The roles are not always the same. In RRR, the villain is one dimensional, 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,” he opines.

And what is his take on RRR crossing ₹1000 crores in terms of box office collections? The actor says, “I am really happy for the film, I am not surprised at all. We all expected this was going to do great. Just the perfection with which Rajamouli and his team churned it out.”