Oi Ma, it’s Emma!

The Sydney girl is the latest femmefirangi to hit the Bollywood scene, and it promises to be a great journey

Gujarat (whose father made a “fantastic fish curry”).

BY MAMTA SHARMA

salwaar-kameez, never leaves the house without a dupatta, owns a collection of Kolkata saris, and loves her behlpuri.

Meet Sydney-born Emma Brown Garrett, the latest actress from overseas to enter Bollywood, who recently made her big screen debut in a Bengali movie. She will soon be seen in Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maaro Dum, alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu.

Born in the Snowy Mountains region of Australia, Emma spent most of her childhood skiing professionally and discovering her performing arts skills. Having studied films and acting, as well as pursuing singing back home, Emma is now eyeing a career in Bollywood.

Emma says that while she wanted to be an actress since she was a child, the prospect of being a singer also appealed to her. “I studied at the Newtown Performing Arts School and attended the Young Actors Programme at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art),” says Emma on her initial years in Sydney.

It was at NIDA that Emma had the opportunity to acquire the skills and techniques, and also a love for acting and performing. “I was always doing TVCs through school, and after school I concentrated on small films like for Tropfest. I was also involved in singing,” she reveals.

After high school, Emma spent three years acting for small feature films and stage productions in Sydney. In her mid-twenties, she spent some time with a Sydney band, singing and writing, followed by stints as a DJ in Sydney and Melbourne, performing live at dance clubs.

After successfully settling in Mumbai and landing modelling assignments with some of India’s leading brands (Bombay Dyeing, Kaya Skin Clinic, Samsung mobile phones), Emma won a role in her first full-length feature film.

“I was very excited at the thought of trying acting in a different country. I was aware of the industry (Bollywood) and curious to see what it was all about. So while my husband was running his finance business, I tried to utilize my acting skills… and it clicked. After just two weeks of arriving here I appointed an agent, and impressed the director Gaurav Pandey with my audition,” says Emma about her Indian venture.

Pandey directed Emma in her debut Bengali film Shukno Lanka, released recently, alongside stars like Mithun Chakraborty, Debashree Roy and Sabyasachi Chakraborty.

“Shukno Lanka means dry red chillies or something that we add to a curry to get more taste to it,” explains Emma. In the movie, Joy Sunder Sengupta (Sabyasachi Chakraborty), an arthouse filmmaker joins hands with Australian actress, Isabella (Emma Brown) to translate Ritwick Ghatak’s short story, Paraspathar (The Philosopher’s Stone) onto the big screen. He casts Chinu Nandy (Mithun Chakraborty) a struggling extra in the lead role and embarks on a whole new journey of self-realisation, with Chinu’s grounded philosophy of life proving to be the pivot of change.

This Australian brunette was a big fan of her co-star Mithun Chakraborty even before meeting him on the sets of the film. Mithun’s film, Hum Paanch is Emma’s all-time favourite Hindi movie

Emma’s role in the film has received some good reviews from film critics. According to National Award winning film critic Shoma A. Chatterji, “Emma Brown as Isabella is soft, low-key and in control, not allowing her infatuation for the director to show.”

But in 2008, Emma moved to Mumbai with her husband, a finance professional.

“I loved that certain charm about India. I was not so much shocked as excited, to see something different,” she says.

Of course she was acquainted with India and things Indian before she left for Mumbai - her best girlfriend here was from

“Every person from Mithun, the brilliant Angana Basu, Debasree as Joy Sundar’s wife, Sabyasachi as Joy Sundar, Emma Brown as Isabella in her own small way is excellent,” says Bengali movie critic Aditya Chakrabarty.

This Australian brunette was a big fan of her co-star Mithun Chakraborty even before meeting him on the sets of the film. Mithun’s film, Hum Paanch is Emma’s all-

The actress has gone blonde in her Bollywood avatar and even picked up Hindi - all for the love of Indian cinema time favourite Hindi movie.

About her experience working with the veteran actor, she says, “Dancing with Mithunda was fantastic. He really is the best Disco Dancer!”

Emma feels lucky about her early break in the Indian film industry. “I have had an opportunity to work with veterans in my early days. And with people like Mithun Chakraborty and Dharmendraji, who has just completed 50 years in Bollywood,” Emma says enthusiastically, adding, “I would love to work with SRK!”

Elaborating on her upcoming films

Emma reveals, “I have just finished shooting my second Bollywood film, Yamla Pagla Deewana starring Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, and Dharmendraji. I play Sunny’s wife in the film. Dum Maaro Dum starring Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu is soon to be released. I play a Russian girl in the film.”

The actress has gone blonde in her Bollywood avatar and even picked up Hindi - all for the love of Indian cinema.

Asked about the difference between working with Bollywood and the film industry in Sydney, Emma says, “It’s very different. Of course the language is challenging, but my Hindi is quite good now. Also the weather makes it hard, but I love it!”

So is language a barrier in Bollywood?

“My Hindi is improving every day so mushkil nahi!” she smiles.

The aspiring actress trained in language skills under a Punjabi guru in Mumbai who taught her Urdu and Hindi. She can now speak a little Hindi, and can read and write as well. “I watch a lot of Hindi movies and try to pick up the language from there as well,” adds Emma.

On B-town friends and acquaintances Emma says, “I am currently working with Bipasha. She is fantastic to work with and just loves Australia. I am also friends with Nick Brown, whose performance in Kites was excellent!”

Emma hopes to return to Sydney in the distant future. “My family is in Sydney so one day I will come home, but for now I can’t refuse opportunities here in India,” she admits candidly.

On the recent strained relations between the two countries, Emma says, “I have always felt that Indians and Australians have had a great relationship. Living here, I don’t feel that people judge me. If anyone asks me about the way I feel, I always say that I am proud to be an Australian and proud to live in India. I have the best of both worlds!”