It’s tough to play one of the most dreaded terrorists on earth. No wonder Pradhuman Singh, who can be seen playing Osama Bin Laden, or rather, his lookalike in Abhishek Sharma’s 'Tere Bin Laden', had his inhibitions when he was offered the role.
“Initially, I was not sure about doing this film but after reading the script I realised that we are not making fun of Laden here. In fact 'Tere Bin Laden' is about Noora, a poultry farmer, who is asked to act like Laden. The film is a satire. There is a message for society but it is conveyed in a fun way,” says Pradhuman, a Delhite, who quit his IT job for this film and has now plans to make Mumbai his new home.
“I can’t concentrate on two things at the same time. I’ve left my job forever so that I can focus on acting,” he informs. But he is definitely not new to acting. Pradhuman has done theatre in Delhi for years and had even worked with his director Abhishek Sharma before landing himself a secure job in a software company.
“I was in Kolkata when Abhishek called me to say that he wants to me play Osama Bin Laden in his film. He was convinced that I could do that.
People who are close to me don’t think I look like Laden but Abhishek said I do bear an uncanny resemblance,” says the actor whose real identity is kept secret by his filmmakers.
“You’ll get to see my photos soon,” he assures us.
As part of his preparations for the role, Pradhuman had to “read articles about Laden and watch his videos”.
It seems all the efforts to make this film a success have already started paying off. “Just saw 'Tere Bin Laden'...wonderfully satirical...some fall-down-funny moments and great ensemble performances,” filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted on the microblogging site, Twitter.
Ask him about good reviews the film, which was released this week, is getting and the actor says, “I’m happy that everyone likes it.” This role has made him more diplomatic, as he says, “After reading so much about terrorism and Laden in particular, I’m really not sure what is right and what is wrong. It’s tough to take sides. All I can say is that no religion teaches violence. And that’s what the film is all about.”