Interview: Maradona Rebello

By: Ashika Sengupta

When an actor takes on his first role, there is clearly a lot going on in his mind. Will he get the lines right? How will audiences and critics receive his acting performance? Did he make the right choice in accepting the lead role in this film as opposed to waiting for another? Will he do a good enough job to impress another director or producer to cast his as a lead in another film in the imminent future?

The last thing any actor making his debut expects to be questioned is his manhood.

Then again, not many debut actors in lead roles are asked to be kissed by another man.

Yet that is what Maradona Rebello had to endure while filming his starring role in Pankh. Ideally, Maradona would have had his sense of manhood heightened after sharing the screen with Bollywood vixen Bipasha Basu.

Instead, the first-time actor is answering questions about being kissed by another man.

“It’s been a harrowing time for me,” Maradona confessed while chatting with reporters earlier this week about his debut film. “It’s the story of a pushy mother and a male child who’s pushed into the movies dressed as a girl. My character grows up confused about his sexuality. I had to do many things that didn’t come naturally to me because I’m a straight guy. I had to kiss a man, get pushed around by him…”

Oh, and there was the instance where he dressed like a woman on set and even bore it all in front of his on-screen mother, played by Lilette Dubey.

“When I came on the set wearing stockings and lipstick, my director Sudiptoda (Chattopadhyay) freaked out. He was so apologetic. He asked everyone to leave the set. I told him to chill,” he embarrassingly informed the press. “But in the nights, I just couldn’t sleep. I was harrowed. Luckily, my parents supported me. They saw the film and loved my performance. My mom didn’t flinch, even when I stripped in front of my screen-mother.”

Yes, Maradona had to strip to his birthday suit near the film’s end, solely to prove to his on-screen mother that he was, indeed, a man. It was quite the challenge for him to pull off that scene, but he also stated Dubey was very helpful.

“Right through the film, she keeps taunting me that I am no man. Finally, in a fit of rage, I had to undress and show her that I am a man,” Maradona shared about his bare-all scene. “It was a very difficult scene to do. Fortunately, Lilette Dubey made me very comfortable. Before the scene, she hugged me and said it’d be fine. And it was.”

Ironically, Maradona found himself jokingly having to prove his manhood in real-life as he promoted the film.

“Here I’m completely straight. In fact, I’m straight in Pankh as well, but throughout the film, I had to keep trying to prove to the world that I am not gay. I know I’m straight, but playing a guy confused about his sexuality can shake you completely,” Maradona told reporters, adding it was just as difficult to do his man-on-man kissing scene. “My co-star Amit Purohit had to kiss me right here at Marine Drive. Luckily, it was the night and not too many people were around,” he added.

Still, in the end, Maradona was willing to put everything aside, mostly because he was fully committed to seeing Pankh achieve critical acclaim and box-office success.

“I’ve given the role everything because I believed in the film,” he humbly told reporters.

A film about Indian cinema’s underbelly that is directed by Chattopadhyay also stars Ronit Roy, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Amit Purohit — Pankh is now playing in wide release.