Sugar Tuesday

Bollywood’s best kept secret, Brazilian mode Giselle Monteiro, played a VERY convincing traditional Indian girl in Imtiaz Ali’s Bollywood hit, Love Aaj Kal.

She played alongside a power cast of Rishi Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, and Deepika Padukone in her debut on the big screen. You would think that, with traditional villagers and the like at the heart of India, the Indian film industry would have no problem casting for the role of “Harleen Kaur”. So why a Brazilian girl to play an old-fashioned Punjabi girl? “Well, I was auditioning girls from all over the country to play the Punjabi girl opposite the Sikh Saif,” explains Ali, “but I couldn’t find the right girl to play the 1965 ki ‘gali mein rehne wali ladki, purane zamane ki’.” It wasn’t until his wife suggested he consider Giselle for the part, as she was there to audition for a Caucasian role for the second half of the movie. Ali took the advice and states, “I turned and looked at Giselle and realised she is Brazil’s Harleen. She didn’t know how to speak Hindi, but [although she was a lead character] she had only two lines to speak, which we dubbed.” Along with a few dance lessons, Giselle was good to go!

Ali does admit, however, the movie received mixed reviews due to this choice of casting. In fact, in fear of a negative reaction, the PR surrounding Love Aaj Kal only referred to Giselle as “Harleen”, without ever revealing her identity. Media surrounding the movie suggests the allusive gesture wasn’t to discredit the Brazilian model-turned-actress, but on the contrary, to give her a chance to prove herself and evade the scrutiny prior to being seen in character.

Having personally watched the movie, myself, I was curious to see who this new, pretty, sweet, talented young actress was....and to my complete surprise, I learned she was not at all of Indian descent – not even partially! Her father used to tease her as a child that she looked Indian....but aside from that, there’s nothing that traces her to authentic Bollywood. Even though I agree that non-Indian actors/actresses stealing lead roles from those who organically belong to the industry can seem unjust, I do have to admit that I don’t think anyone else could have played Harleen’s role with as much persuasion; It is fascinating how Giselle captured Harleen’s demeanour with perfection through every gesture, expression, and mannerism – she even looked the part, to a T!

This wasn’t a one-hit-wonder for Giselle, as she’s already begun shooting for her next Bollywood hit, Purani Jeans, where she’ll seen opposite Kapil Chopra, son of Ravi Chopra and Tanuj Virwani, son of Rati Agnihotri.