BENGALURU: Roger Narayan who has acted in Hollywood, Bollywood and also recently in U-Turn, a Sandalwood movie, calls himself a student and a journey man. “I am a student of life,” he explains. “I constantly observe the beautiful and the dark side of life and am surprised by how life moves despite all the troubles we face.”
He calls himself a ‘journey man’ because he has travelled to over 20 countries. “I get an opportunity to travel and traverse mental and emotional landscapes through my characters,” he says. He has dubbed for video games like Age of Empires and 24.
Though the engineer from BITS Pilani is seen on American TV and in films, it was his Hindi-English feature film Hola Venky! that brought him back to India for good, two years ago. “The film is garnering a cult fanbase and has seen a successful run in the US. I followed it with U-Turn directed by Pawan Kumar. The role of police officer in the film put me in the limelight in the Kannada industry,” says Roger who enjoys flying single-engine aircrafts and riding motorbikes.
He surprised us with his recent work in Sanskrit titled Punyakoti. Roger dubbed the role of Kaalinga, alongside veteran actress Revathy. “It is the first animated Sanskrit feature film and was funded through WishBerry. Maestro Illaiyaraja has given music for the film. I did not have trouble with the language as I studied it in school and college in Bengaluru,” he says.
Roger who has also been face of many international and national commercial campaigns got trained in classical acting training from American Conservatory Theater (ACT), the American Film Institute (AFI) SAG Conservatory, The Groundlings, Foots barn Theater Company (France), San Jose Repertory Theater and Ranga Shankara (India).
Roger also understands his social responsibility. He works with Induz, Seva Child and Samarthan Trust – that work towards Children and their education. He is on the Advisorty Board of Induz. “The main focus of the NGO based out of San Fransico, is to provide art based education to schools. We support children in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata,” says Roger.
“I play a humble part in the other two NGOs. There are many others in the background working hard to help the children,” he insists. Those interested in donating can visit www.sevachild/org/in.
The multilingual actor will soon make a mark in Tamil and Telugu cinema.