A high tide

FTII graduate Akash Sinha talks about playing one of the protagonists in Baga Beach,a multilingual film to be screened at IFFI.

When Goa-based filmmaker Laxmikant Shetgaonkar was in the process of finalising the cast of his multi-lingual film Baga Beach,he had a clear idea about what to look out for in the people contesting for the roles. So when he met 27-year-old Akash Sinha in Mumbai,the two-hour long meeting was sufficient to convince Shetgaonkar that Sinha was the perfect choice for the role,therefore ruling out the need for a screen test. I was looking for a person who had an innocent face,who looked vulnerable and whose struggle looked believable to the audience. Besides,the fact that he passed out from FTII and the conversation we had about films,reiterated to me that he was suited for the role, explains Shetgaonkar.

Sinha,who passed out from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 2010,will be essaying the role of Devappa,one of the lead characters in Baga Beach,which will be screened on November 26 in the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI,Goa. Baga Beach,a multi-plot film with an ensemble cast,is about the struggles and ambitions of people of Goa living on and off the beaches. Apart from Paoli Dam,who was seen in Hate Story and Chakrat,all other actors in the film are newcomers. The cast includes Jean Denis Romer,Cedric Cirotteau,Sadia Siddiqui,Sergie Klemov,Prashanti Talpankar,Pradeep Naik,Ivon Desouza,Abhishek Vishwakarma and Rajesh Karekar.

Talking about his character,Sinha says,Devappa belongs to Karnataka but has been staying in Goa for more than a decade. Yet,the people of Goa treat him as an outsider. He earns a living as a worker at a local water sports and paragliding company. He aims to become a lifeguard and settle down in life. The film portrays his struggle for an identity in Goa.

With an aim to give his best,Sinha had reached Goa five days prior to the shoot,as he wanted to get acclimatised to the place and the local people. I befriended the people who have shacks on the beach. It helped me a lot, he says. However,the most challenging part,he says,was to deliver dialogues in Konkani. There are a couple of scenes in which I have to speak in Konkani. I had no choice but to mug up the dialogues, recalls Sinha.

Prior to Baga Beach,Sinha was seen playing small roles in films like Gangs of Wasseypur II and Lunchbox. The role of Ramanathan,a character in the recent film Shahid,he says,was relatively longer and prominent. He has also done short films like That Day After Everyday by Anurag Kashyap and The Last Act which was made under the guidance of Sudhir Mishra and Kashyap. Studying at FTII has given me a different perspective of looking at roles and acting as a profession. More than earning a living,its about accepting works that enhance my capability as an actor and push my boundaries, says the actor who grew up watching and studying roles played by actors like Balraj Sahni,Robert De Niro and Al Pacino to name a few. In the current bunch of actors,Sinha truly admires Irrfan Khan and his choice of characters and movies.

I feel very fortunate to have got an opportunity to work with and learn from award-winning directors like Anurag (Kashyap),Ritesh Batra and Laxmikant (Shetgaonkar). I dont want to limit myself and want to work in films in all languages be it Tamil,Telugu or any other regional language, he concludes.

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