INTERVIEW: Rajesh Bose on entering the world of ‘Life of Pi’
Photo: Life of Pi stars, from left, Rajesh Bose and Hiran Abeysekera. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
Life of Pi, which is currently playing on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, tells the remarkable story of a family struggling to survive a ship’s journey across the Pacific Ocean. When a storm hits, the title character, Pi, finds himself alone on a lifeboat — well, almost alone. He’s also accompanied by a hyena, zebra, orangutan and royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi’s family used to run a zoo in Pondicherry, India, and the animals were traveling with them across the globe.
One of the central characters in the story is Father, played by Rajesh Bose. As the character name implies, he’s Pi’s father, a patriarch who offers sturdy, but tough love to the family. Bose, an accomplished actor of theater, TV and film, came to Life of Pi through the audition process. He submitted a tape to the creative team, and then he was called in for two in-person auditions.
“I had to do a little research,” Bose said in a recent phone interview. “I think it has so much pull in popular culture. If you say Life of Pi, even if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, people know what that is. In that sense, I knew it, but I had not actually read the book or seen the movie. So for the audition I did some research, and then when I got the job, I read the book. I still haven’t watched the movie, however. I’m waiting for this to be all over to do that.”
Bose, who has appeared in Bull, Elementary and Damages, said he loves his role, finding that this character resonates on stage. He said Father definitely teaches hard lessons through his strict, but loving, method of parenting. “It’s very much doing what he has to do to protect them, whether they understand it at the time or not, or they hate him for it at the moment,” he said. “He’s willing for his children to hate him at that moment so that they understand the lesson. That’s very much love. That’s very much parenting.”
There’s one memorable scene involving a goat and this particular parenting style — the details of which should remain a secret for theatergoers. Bose remembers auditioning with that very scene, but its full impact didn’t come until the tech rehearsals much later in the process. That’s when Bose was able to appreciate the enormity and simultaneous intimacy of the encounter, which was brought to life by the hard-working puppeteers on stage. That’s one of the distinct qualities of this Broadway production: The puppetry is remarkably beautiful and exquisitely detailed, with each of the animals brought to life by multiple performers.
“The puppetry in the show is so phenomenal that actually grabbing the goat and throwing it into the cage was what, I think, really cemented what I’m doing there,” said Bose, an alum of several Bedlam Theatre productions. “Once they were there, the enormity of what I was doing became very clear.”
Bose added: “I would say [the puppetry] helps get all of us into the world that we’re in, that we’re in a zoo, that we’re in 1976 in Pondicherry, India, but as far who the father is, my character, and I would imagine for everybody else, so much is the relationship we have with each other. But in that particular example, when we react with the puppets, I forget who is manning the puppet on any given night because I’m not looking at that person ever. I’m looking at the goat’s eyes or the tiger’s eyes. I think the animals are also specific characters, but they very much are part of the world. And so they so much create the world that we’re in, so it helps in that regard. Very much the puppetry and the spectacle create the world that we’re in.”
As the Broadway run comes to an end in July, Bose can look back on a long journey with this play. He’s been attached to the production for more than a calendar year at this point, and he said this lengthy time has deepened the connections with his fellow actors, helping to create that family feel on stage.
“We’ve been doing this for quite some time,” he said. “We started rehearsals in October, so we’ve gotten to really know each other as people, as actors, and I think that certainly helps. I will also say that, for example, Mahira Kakkar, who plays my wife, this is my third show I’ve done with her, so we’ve known each other for quite some time. I think that’s helped us tremendously in creating us as parents on stage. I’d say for both of us, we are proud and protective of our children as actors, as people, as our children on stage and off stage. It certainly takes time, but I think we had a couple advantages.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Life of Pi, featuring Rajesh Bose, continues through July 23 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
