Meet Hollywood146;s first desi face

Pallana brought his skills to New York in 1946, where he developed a one-man show, juggling rings, spinning plates, doing rope tricks and magic. As Kumar of India, he toured Paris, London, Madrid, Casablanca and Las Vegas in the 1950s and 8217;60s and even performed on The Mickey Mouse Club and The Ed Sullivan Show.

When asked whether juggling and plate-spinning were written into the script of The Terminal for him, Pallana said: 8216;8216;Tom Hanks said 8216;Let8217;s put it in8217;.8217;8217; 8216;8216;They Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have energy. I worked with other people in the film industry, but some people have the ego 8212; they chant 8216;me, me, me8217;. But they are the other side of the coin8230;so humble and so kind. It8217;s like working with a family,8217;8217; he added.

Pallana and his family eventually settled in Dallas, where he and his son operated a yoga studio/cafe called 8216;8216;The Cosmic Cup,8217;8217; whose regulars included University of Texas students Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. When it came time to make their first film 8212; Bottle Rocket 8212; they gave Pallana a part. 8216;8216;They would come in the cafe and talk to me. They said they were shooting a movie and are you interested in being in it. I said yes. They were nice kids,8217;8217; Pallana said. Pallana has also appeared in Anderson8217;s Rushmore and Tenenbaums. 8212;LAT-WP