ed. note: the following interview is no longer available on www clickwalla com. The photos on this page originally were presented along with the interview.

Brits are making it big in Bollywood in films such as Aamir Khan's epic love story Lagaan. Find out more about them in our exclusive interview with the Brit Pack.

ONE of the first things that strike you about Paul Blackthorne are his good looks. With a face that’s a pleasure to look at and charm that comes as easily to him - you soon find yourself forgiving him for being half an hour late.

Not long into the conversation, you realise this man was born to act. He’s an absolute natural. When he was a mere ten years old, Paul was in the National Youth Music Theatre and participated in theatre in the Edinburgh festival as well as the West End. 

At sixteen, he was involved in more theatre and fate decided before he did that he was going to be an actor. Realisation came a few years later while living in New York and working in bars and restaurants, still not certain what to do in life, he was presented with the opportunity to work in a few short films.

A few years after that, back in England, Paul found himself in a film called The Truth Game. That’s when he decided to get serious and found himself an agent. He also took it one step further and studied the psychology of acting for two years. 

In the meantime, more work kept coming his way and Paul found himself doing everything from television to theatre.

And then came the Bollywood break in Aamir Khan’s first home production, Lagaan, which has seen much talent from the UK filming in the deserts of Bhuj in Gujarat.

A film based in the era of the British Raj, Paul was chosen to play the lead villain, no mean feat for someone who knew not a word of Hindi! Paul shares his story. 

Did you know much about Bollywood before you got involved with this venture?

I only knew as much as anyone else like me really. But it’s all sort of bubbling away, isn’t it? Bollywood is suddenly being talked about so much. But obviously, when I got this role, all of a sudden, I started becoming so much more aware of Bollywood. You know it’s like you buy a Ford Escort, you suddenly start seeing a lot of other Ford Escorts. And suddenly Bollywood seemed to be everywhere, because I was in the Bollywood picture, in my little world.

So how did this role come your way then?

Well, I just got a call from my agent one fine day asking me if I’d like to audition for this part in a Bollywood film. She sent me a script and I couldn’t even get halfway through this script because all these Indian names kept popping up, seventy-eight different speaking characters. I just couldn’t keep up with the script.

So you did get a script?

You know that’s an unusual feature for a Bollywood film.Oh yes I did. That’s the thing with this film. There were lots of unusual things about it, the main being a script, which most people wouldn’t find such a novelty, but I believe in Bollywood it is (laughs).

I believe playing cricket was a requirement for this role. So did you know how to play the game?

Well, I’d played cricket when I was a lad, but I’m one of those people who knows how to do a little of everything, but not particularly well, sort of a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. The first time, we played a practise game and I went up to bat, a lot of heads dropped! Anyway, I was fortunate enough to have many people around me who knew how to play the game well, so during lunch hour, I used to practice. 

So let’s retract. First you got the script then the next step was the audition. How did that go?

The first audition was fine because it was in English. At that stage, I was wondering whether this film was going to be in English or Hindi. Anyway then I was asked to come back for a second audition and this time Reena, Aamir’s wife, and Ashutosh, the director were both there. We were doing this scene in English when all of a sudden, he pointed at something on the paper in his hand and asked me if I could say this. I looked at this and didn’t think I could say it. It was some Hindi phonetically written. Anyway, I said whatever it was and Ashutosh seemed quite pleased with the way I’d said it. Then he began improvising and asked me to say it with different expressions.

Do you remember what it was that he asked you to say?

I have absolutely no idea what it was or what it means, but I should ask him the next time I see him! 

So what happened next?

I got the call saying I had been chosen to play the character of Captain Russell, he was a Captain in the British Army and was basically the villain who made the lives of all the poor Indian villagers very difficult. Anyway then I started getting very concerned about the role. I didn’t know whether I would be expected to speak Hindi or whether it would be dubbed or what. Then I spoke to Ashutosh over the phone and he sent me the complete script with all the Hindi lines and everything. And in the script every time my character is speaking to the villagers, he’s talking in Hindi because in those days, that’s how it was. Everyone in the British Army those days apparently learnt the language and could talk Hindi. Anyway I met Aamir again while he was here and he taught me some tricks he had used when he was doing a Tamil film once, about expressions and dialogue delivery. Then they organised a tutor for me, a wonderful Pakistani lady without whom none of this would have been possible. For six weeks, we sat in my living room and went through this script word by word. I learnt my Hindi dialogue phonetically and of course, learnt the meanings of everything I would be saying. Believe me, I went through moments when I thought I would go crazy.

Tell me about the film now. What was the work like? What were the sets like?

It was hard work (rolls his eyes). When you’re filming anything, it’s hard work. You have to be up early and that sort thing. Here we’d get going at about six in the morning and carry right on till about six in the evening, when the sun was setting. It was a long day plus I would have to go through about an hour and a half of makeup at the start of everyday. We had worked out this weather beaten sort of look for me. We spent six weeks just shooting the cricket match and that’s only twenty-five minutes of the actual film. Six weeks, can you believe that? This was all happening in the middle of a desert. They built this whole cricket ground and an entire village in the middle of this desert. After we finished shooting in Bhuj, we went to Mandavi. This is where the actual palace was and where my headquarters in the film were, rather lavish headquarters, and we did some filming there also.

What was the general impression you came away with about Bollywood?

To be honest with you, working on this film was really no different than working on any other film, because of the way it had been organised. But had it been a typical Bollywood film, it would have been a different story altogether. I mean here there were many firsts for an Indian film, I believe. We had a script, we shot in one schedule and we had synch sound so no dubbing was required later. 

How did you cope with the heat? And what did you think of the food?

Oh, we had a terrible caterer so the food was terrible. As far as the heat is concerned, well, it was oppressive. But on the whole, I had a couple of bouts of stomach problems and got a heat stroke once. Not too bad for my first trip there!

What was the most interesting incident that comes to mind?

Well two of the actors, who were childhood sweethearts, actually got married on the set! That was beautiful. They got married on the set of this temple we had built for filming and the wedding was performed in true Indian style with Aamir giving away the bride. 

How about sharing some of the scandals, spice or strange happenings that may have taken place on the sets?

Oh, there were plenty of strange happenings. Put a hundred people, some of which are from India and some of which are from England, in one big building for three months, strange things are going to happen! But I’m not telling you any stories!

Where the hour I spent with this bundle of energy called Paul Blackthorne flew, I had no clue. But he definitely proves the theory of ‘a pretty face with no brains? false, because not only was this young man witty and interesting, but also possessed a razor sharp mind for someone who mastered dialogue in a language of which he didn’t know the first letter.

Paul Blackthorne seems to have played his character with relative ease. Extremely enthusiastic at the prospect of doing another Bollywood film, Paul is someone who’s ready for anything as long as it involves his first love, acting. And he’s someone who’s going to go a long way. For him the journey has only just begun?lt;/font>