Hero saves the day

When Sendhil Ramamurthy landed a lead role in Heroes, he couldn’t have imagined how it would change his life.

Apart from making him a global star, the hit TV series has turned him into a heartthrob and seriously in demand actor.

When Eastern Eye catches up with the dashing American actor he is shooting a kissing scene for British Asian comedy It’s A Wonderful Afterlife by the River Thames on a sunny afternoon. The happiest person on the film set is the leading lady on the receiving end of the kiss. A mixture of shock, joy and happiness is visible on Goldy Notay’s face as she does repeated takes with Sendhil under the watchful eye of director Gurinder Chadha.

Sendhil takes time out from making Goldy the happiest woman in the world to talk about the amazing success of Heroes, his strong connection to London and working with Gurinder. The cut-glass English accent he has in Heroes has temporarily disappeared and been
replaced by his normal American accent.

First, you have to tell us about the origin of your amazing English accent in Heroes. There were reports you got it working in a call centre when you studied in London?

(Laughs) That’s not true! I don’t know where those stories came from. I have never worked in a call centre, interesting story though. So, how did you get that English accent? I picked it up because I went to drama school in London and obviously a lot of the plays I had to do required me to have an English accent. They made me speak with the accent all day in school and my wife is actually British. And I lived here for six years, so I kind of picked it up.

Did you imagine that Heroes would become so big?

I literally had no idea! It was a pilot and I was excited to be asked to be a part of it. I was in London when I got asked to do it – I did my first audition from here. Then, it kind of surprised everyone with the speed at which it took off.

We moved to Los Angeles and come back here as often as we can. Actually coming back to London was one of the main draws of doing this film. I get to hook up with friends that I haven’t seen in a while, my wife’s family is here and we still have a house here.

Apart from coming back to London, what made you sign It’s a Wonderful Afterlife?

I jumped at the chance of doing something totally different to Heroes and a chance to work with Gurinder. It was also the fact that it fit right in my break from Heroes. They actually shot me out four days early, so that I could leave. We finish this movie around May 23rd and I start shooting the next season of Heroes on June 1. Thankfully everything went my way for this job. Originally, they wanted to start shooting this film in February, and if they had done that, then it was me out. For whatever reason, they pushed it back and it worked out perfectly for me. I couldn’t be happier.

What is Gurinder like as a director?

(Jokes) She is really tough and I don’t like her at all. No, she’s great and has been really good to work with. She listens to her actors. Us actors can get confused sometimes and she is always open to helping us. You can call her up at anytime or send her an email, or do whatever. She will answer your questions. And, obviously the writing her and Paul (Mayeda Bergess) have done is really good on this. I admire her because she never falls into any one box – there is never a typical Gurinder Chadha movie. I mean this is a cross between Shaun Of The Dead and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There are ghosts running around, there is comedy, drama and some sweet stuff. It has been really great and I’m having a blast!

Can you tell us a little bit about the film and the character you play?

(Laughs) I actually don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you about the film. I play a detective sergeant in the police who has been sent to work in the Southall office to investigate some murders that have been happening in the Asian community. I have to go undercover and find out who is committing the murders. People get implicated who I actually know and it becomes very difficult. I end up falling in love with one of the suspects. I don’t know if she did or didn’t commit the murders.

What’s been the biggest difference of working on Heroes and this film?

(Jokes) I have a smaller trailer! No, there is a different feel when you are doing something that is a little smaller. Not in a bad way, there is literally less than half the crew of what we shoot with on Heroes, but we are still accomplishing what we want to do. It’s a nice romantic comedy, whereas that is a bigger budget sci-fi thing.

What has the experience of working with British Asian actors been like?

It’s been great. I have worked with British actors before when I was living here. Actors are actors wherever you go, there is really not a lot of difference. On Heroes I am lucky enough not to have diva actors and, here, there is no diva-like attitudes, (jokes) except for me and I am a pretty big diva. It’s been really great and we have been shooting outdoors a lot too and London is almost like a character in the film, which is really cool.

Talking of the Heroes cast, there seems to be a genuine friendship between the cast?

(Jokes) No it’s all fake and we just do it for the cameras. We claw each other’s eyes out in private. No, it’s really genuine. Three of them were here and we had dinner last night. I’m going to the Star Trek premiere with Zach (Quinto). We are all genuinely very tight – we have been emailing each other pictures. I have sent pictures of the cast from this set. We are all really spread out at the moment. I mean Hayden (Panettiere) is in Australia, Adrian (Pasdar) is sailing his boat to Hawaii. We always keep in touch, so it is cool.

How are you dealing with the new heartthrob status?

(Laughs loudly) My wife keeps my feet on the ground and beats me down when the stuff comes out in the press. It’s funny. They do sexiest lists in the US a lot, it’s incredibly flattering when you feature in these things.
 

I bet your buddies make fun of you?

(Laughs) Yeah, they do. They give me a really hard time about it. They showed up on my doorstep with People magazine’s most beautiful people, laughing at me and asking me to sign it. They properly and quite rightly take the piss out of me. And it’s cool, I appreciate it. Although it’s slightly ridiculous and incredibly flattering at the same time, I try not to take it too seriously.

What are your biggest passions away from work?

I’m a big tennis fanatic and travel all over the place watching matches. I played competitively when I was younger and still play regularly a few times a week. I have the weather for it there, which is one of the cool things about LA besides work. They are testing the retractable roof out at Wimbledon with matches between Agassi and Henman, and Clijsters and Graff – I’m going to watch them in May. I will hopefully be going to the French open in Paris with my dad after we finishing shooting the film.

Is there a character you haven’t played but would like to?

Well, I have got the romantic comedy angle thing down with this film. I’m really kind of enjoying it and wouldn’t mind doing more of that. You know what I would like to do is a big sweeping epic like Lawrence Of Arabia or English Patient type of thing.

What about playing a villain. You were really great in the last season of Heroes, when your character temporarily became a bad guy?

You know I was so grateful to the Heroes writers for doing that because I got to be really not pleasant. I worked with a trainer and got
into that, built my physique. It would be fantastic if I got a chance to play a villain again.

In the current season of Heroes the main characters are on the run. What will happen in the next one?

We stop being on the run and the next volume, which we start shooting in June is called Redemption. That is all I can tell you.

It’s A Wonderful Afterlife is scheduled
to be released next year.