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Heeramandi and Maharaj fame Mark Bennington talks about being typecast; how Indian showbiz is different from the West
American actor Mark Bennington who was recently praised for his performance in Heeramandi and Maharaj has opened up about being typecast and how Indian showbiz is different from the West.
India has been home to several actors across the world who have created magic on-screen with their diversity. American actor Mark Bennington is one of them who has been working in the Indian showbiz for long and his performances have also equally been praised and hailed by audiences. In a recent interview with HT City, Bennington revealed how drastically different Indian and Western showbiz is.
Mark Bennington highlights Indian showbiz’s last-minute issues
Recently seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi and Junaid Khan’s Maharaj, Mark Bennington admitted there are several challenges to be dealt with in India. Citing one of the examples of making the broth when the dinner table is ready, the RRR actor confessed that in the West, no one gets the script at the last minute and everyone has enough time to come prepared with their character.
He shared, “Here in India, it’s often last minute, so I find myself learning lines on a flight or on my way to the set.” Mark talking about another difference between both industries revealed that actors in the West never negotiate for remuneration directly and have agents. But in India, he most recently got in touch with an agent.
Mark Bennington talks about being typecast
Owing to his white heritage, Mark admitted that he is often offered characters set in the British era and he has most of the time turned them down. he also went on to add that roles like the one he played in Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo (web show) are very 'rare' to come by.
Mark says the focus of his career is to make his roles look “as real and interesting as possible” and also accepts that “breaking the ceiling” in Indian showbiz like foreign actors do in the Western industry is a far-fetched thought for him.
According to Bennington, there hasn’t been any non-Indian star in showbiz except Tom Alter, who according to him got his due because of being an Indian-born and being excellent at his Hindi and Urdu. Further in his career, Mark looks forward to exploring writing and directing which will be away from this typecasting.
Both Maharaj and Heeramandi are available to stream on Netflix.
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