Nair, Bachchan, and Kokila Ben: Kal Penn speaks about his influences and dreams of remaking ‘Don’

Jaipur, Feb 1 (PTI) American actor Kal Penn, known for roles ranging from self-conscious Gogol in “The Namesake” to stoner Kumar Patel in the “Harold and Kumar” franchise, draws inspiration from a wide spectrum of influences, including Tom Hanks and Mira Nair in the West and Amitabh Bachchan and Kokila Ben from “Saath Nibhana Saathiya” in India.

Penn, who grew up in an Indian immigrant household in the US, wants to remake Bachchan’s iconic film “Don”, featuring him in the lead role.

The “House” actor was speaking at a session, titled “You Can’t Be Serious”, at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival here at Hotel Clarks Amer on Friday.

“The influences I had were mostly American, like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Mira Nair certainly from the time I was a kid when she did ‘Mississippi Masala’ and looking at her I thought if this woman can do it, then maybe there’s a path forward,” the 47-year-old said.

“I remain… I mean who isn’t a huge Amitabh Bachchan fan. The original ‘Don’ is what I would love to remake but it can still be escapist, it can still be in the same way, same colour palette, just like set in Brooklyn or set in Ohio,” he added.

Penn, who was recently seen on the sets of popular Hindi comedy show “Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah”, also got “addicted” to watching Hindi soap “Saath Nibhana Saathiya” in a bid to brush up his command over the language.

“Whenever I am working in India, I try to get a script two months in advance. One of the ways I try to learn and keep up with Hindi is by watching serials. So I got addicted to ‘Saath Nibhana Saathiya’, so like Kokila Ben is a bad***. You don’t want to cross her and Gopi is obviously a meme like Gopi washing a laptop,” Penn said to an audience bursting into guffaws.

“How do I explain how good these episodes are to my non-Indian friends, there is no possible way. So those are also some of my more recent influences.”

Penn has worked in popular and critically acclaimed films and TV shows, including “Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain”, “The Namesake”, “Designated Survivor”, and “The Big Bang Theory”.

The actor said that with the advent of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon, there is more “diverse content” with actors and creators like Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra.

“There’s been an explosion of very diverse content in the last 10 years, basically everything Mindy Kaling has wonderfully written and brought on the air, she is brilliant. Priyanka is dipping her feet in everything and she is crushing it with the Oscar nominated Indian content.

“There are a number of writers, stand up comedians. I actually think in the diaspora there’s been an explosion not just for South Asian audiences but all audiences,” he said.

JLF this year features a lineup of over 300 luminaries such as Nobel laureates, Booker Prize-winners, journalists, policymakers, and acclaimed writers.

The participants include Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Dufflo, Amol Palekar, Ira Mukhoty, Geetanjali Shree, David Hare, Manav Kaul, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Yuvan Aves, Shahu Patole, and Kallol Bhattacharjee.