Hugh Grant says he may be half Indian: ‘My father was born in India’

Hugh Grant, the British star known for romance classics such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually”, says he might be “half Indian”, revealing that his father was born in India.

Speaking at the 23^rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday, the 65-year-old actor said his family has roots in the Indian subcontinent.

“My father was a soldier. In fact, he was born in India. I had to find his birth certificate, and it was really tough. It was some obscure town in the north of India. It may well be Pakistan now,” Grant said.

“He was born in either India or Pakistan. I guess that makes me half Indian, really,” he added.

Grant also walked down memory lane, recalling his first visit to India in 1988. The actor said he was in the country to shoot for “La Nuit Bengali” (The Bengali Night) in Kolkata, then Calcutta.

“I shot a very arty film in 1988, French, ‘La Nuit Bengali’ in Kolkata and it never really had much of the release...  but I thoroughly enjoyed being in Kolkata, although people said, ‘Hugh, it is going to be a cultural shock for you’ and it was but I ended up loving it,” he said.

The actor shared a funny story about the first driver he encountered in India.

“When I arrived, he introduced himself as Bishu and he looked like a 12-year-old. I think he might have been 13, and I said, ‘You sure you can drive’ and he said ‘yes’. And within three weeks, he crashed quite badly. And he was fired.”

“I didn’t see him for quite a few months and then I bumped into him on the streets of Kolkata and I say ‘Bishu, how are you? What’s happening?’ and he said, ‘It’s all good sir, I got a new job, I am now driving a school bus,’ He was great,” Grant remembered.

During his visit to the country, Grant said he met many people and fell in love with them.

“I sort of fell into Kolkata high society, I don’t know how that happened. Because the French crew, the director, the crew, they all went very local, they started dressing local, they slept on local.”

“I for some reason got swept up into Kolkata high society, went to cocktail parties and polo. I didn’t know that life still existed anywhere. But it existed then in Kolkata. The Tollygunge Club and I went there to parties and people like Moon Moon Sen, I had a lovely time there.”

Adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel by Mircea Eliade, “La Nuit Bengali” was set in 1930s Calcutta. Starring Grant and Supriya Pathak in the lead roles, the film follows a young European engineer who becomes entangled in a forbidden romance with the daughter of the traditional Bengali family hosting him.

The movie also starred cinema icons Shabana Azmi and the late Soumitra Chatterjee in pivotal roles.

Grant, who was in conversation with actor Rahul Khanna, was quizzed about his knowledge of Indian cinema.

“I have seen a bit of Satyajit Ray’s films, we were using his studio and he is quite of genius. But I can’t pretend I have seen a lot of Bollywood,” he said.

In his early career, years before he became a heartthrob, Grant worked in “Maurice”, a Merchant Ivory production, in 1987. The film was directed by acclaimed writer-director James Ivory, who produced the project with his frequent Indian collaborator and partner Ismail Merchant.

Recalling his experience of working with the duo, the actor said they were a “unique and wonderful pair”.

“They made absolutely beautiful, very brave films. And I was extremely fond of them both and it’s very sad that we have now lost Ismail. Jim of course going strong and winning Oscars. Making a film (with them) was interesting in many ways, largely because they never had any money at all and what money they had that suddenly disappeared in the middle of productions.”

“Suddenly Ismail would borrow my mother’s car for the evening and she would get it back only two weeks later or they would run out of money so Ismail would do cooking, he would just cook curry for the whole cast and crew. So it was unique in that way. Everyone who ever did one of their films ended up loving them... even though they have been slightly ripped off,” he said.