Getting To Know Namrata Singh Gujral

By John Voket

Even when she’s under the weather, “Americanized” Indian film actress, singer, director and video game vixen Namrata Singh Gujral remains a consummate professional. Ms Gujral was in Danbury last weekend to promote her latest project, Americanizing Shelly, which enjoyed a packed debut as the closing feature of the Connecticut Film Festival.

She admitted to feeling pretty lousy after enduring several previous interviews, but perked up nevertheless when it was time to sit down for a chat with The Newtown Bee.

According to her bio, the cinnamon-skinned beauty started her career in front of the camera when she was just a teen, doing some modeling which eventually led to career in acting.

She has enjoyed a respectable amount of attention with her East-Indian, Tibetan, Latin and Egyptian heritage combining to present a character type that defies precise classification. As such, she has played a broad range of character roles in her native country, as well as here in the United States, in both motion pictures and television.

In fact, she claims to be the first artist to book roles in mainstream high profile Hollywood and Bollywood projects, all during her first year working in the industry. American audiences may not remember her first job doing a three episode turn on ABC’s General Hospital, but she made an impression with a cameo in the critically acclaimed House of Sand and Fog alongside the Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley.

Since then she has made history again, this time as the first artist from the East to be featured on Country Music Television (CMT) singing a duet with Steve Azar’s “Dancin’ In The Clouds.” This song also brought an Eastern language to America’s CMT for the first time in the country music network’s history.

Ms Gujral is also thrilling a totally different audience of admirers as the character of Jaya Kushala in Microsoft’s Xbox game Quantum Redshift.

Now the international talent is anticipating her first big commercial break as the writer, producer and leading lady in her new American feature, which was recently slated for mainstream movie house distribution by Warner Bros.

In the vein of Bend It like Beckham, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Americanizing Shelley is a contemporary Pygmalion-like comedy. Responding to a challenge thrown down by the CEO of a Hollywood management company (Beau Bridges), Americanizing Shelley tells the story of a wannabe Hollywood player from the deep South (Brad Raider), who sets out to Americanize an Indian girl straight from the Himalayas.

But problems occur when our hero runs into cultural clashes while executing her American makeover. As he creatively teaches her all about the American way of life and what it takes be a Hollywood celebrity, he ends up learning a thing or two about his own life.

While she was sworn to secrecy about her current film project, a Sci-Fi flick called Still, Ms Gujral was happy to discuss her cross-cultural popularity, and the challenges of trying to make it in the entertainment business.

Newtown Bee: So you are a pretty good actor for a Hindu country western singer…

Namrata Singh Gujral: Thank you [laughing]. You know this was very much a publicity stunt that we did that worked really well. And we’re apparently getting into the Guinness Book of Records for being the first Eastern artist to introduce an Eastern language to country music.

NB: How does it feel to have your name associated in so may ways with Americanizing Shelly — as the star, writer, and producer?

NSG: It feels great. We’ve been really fortunate with the film, going to a lot of cities at festivals. And now that Warner Bros. has picked it up, it will be opening around the world in 2008. We’ll be going to Australia, England, South Africa, it’s going to be really cool. But, I mean, anytime as an actor when you have something out there, it’s not so much about publicity, or your name’s up on the marquee, you get to create something and you get to share something with your final consumer, which is your audience.

NB: It certainly precedes the medium of film, taking a person and telling their story as they are displaced in another culture. How will Americanizing Shelly distinguish itself from the many similar stories throughout literature, film, theater and television?

NSG: Sure. It is a universal subject. It’s definitely a fish out of water story. But I think it will be different because it’s the first mainstream film that showcases the story between the Indian culture and the American culture. But more so, the picture has such a great soul, such a great heart. What will really stand out at the end of the day, is the final message of the film, the ethos that it brings with it that will distinctify it from among all the others in its sub-genre.

NB: How is the chemistry between you and your leading man, Brad Raider?

NSG: Every time people tell me it’s one of the strongest chemistries they have ever watched on screen. So that’s kind of fun to hear. But we really have to let the audience decide when they go see the movie.

NB: I’ve never interviewed a video game star before. How do you get tapped for that line of work?

NSG: Always a first, right? Actually before I booked the job on Quantum Redshift, I didn’t know what an Xbox was. But when I told my friends they were really thrilled. And it’s funny when people read my bio, of all the things I’ve done, interviewers seem most impressed with the video game project. It goes to show the impact of video games that I had no idea existed. It was a lot of fun, it was a voice-over project. You basically go in there and do the audio work – you just kind of breathe soul into the character.

NB: Do you think being familiar with you from the X-Box project will cross over and help bring gamers into the theater to see you in Americanizing Shelly, to see what you’re all about in that character?

NSG: I hope so. I think with the way they do the marketing and cross promotion is now. I’m sure some of that will happen, and I think we’ll see more and more of that in the future.

NB: Do you consider yourself primarily an actress or a full service entertainer?

NSG: An entertainer for sure. I dance, and I write and produce… I tell people that I love the industry. I think there’s two kinds of people, the ones who want to play a film maker and the one who wants to be a film maker. And I want to be a film maker. I could care less about the glitz and glamour, I just really love what I do.

NB: Is there a dream project incubating in your mind?

NSG: Not really. Mostly every project I get into I feel pretty passionate about. I’m not one of those people who will jump at anything just because it’s there. I’ve been very particular, and in this competitive world it’s tough to say no to projects. But I have done that on many occasions because I didn’t feel a connection between the project or the character.

NB: Can you tell us a little about Still, the sci-fi film you’re shooting now?

NSG: No, I really can’t talk about it other than to say we are shooting it through the end of this year. But I can tell you about another really funny film I’m working on that is sort of the opposite of Americanizing Shelly, where the American girl goes to India and falls back in love with her culture.

NB: What do you think it is it about the Indian culture as it is presented in the Indian film industry that is keeping America from falling in love with Bollywood?

NSG: There is a certain innocence about Bollywood pictures today that we had in the ‘50s and ‘60s, that perhaps now is somewhat deficient in contemporary Hollywood product. As human beings, we never want to lose that innocence because we all have a child inside us somewhere. If people can begin to relate to that innocence, it will bring back some kind of freshness in their lives. That is something that is lacking right now, that I think Bollywood can definitely help with if American filmgoers just give it a chance.

NB: Since you come from a traditional Indian family, how did your parents react once you decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?

NSG: It’s important to understand that this is a job, and as long as you are working hard every day and pursuing your dream you are on the right track. My friends were fine, but my family is somewhat conservative so they weren’t too happy with it at first. But they’ve come around.

I think the highlight came just a few months ago when the government of India flew me down from their huge Asian film festival. They invited me to speak in a co-production panel alongside of some of very, very big players in the international film community. And I think my dad was very proud.