“He requested us to provide him with a copy of the film. We were humbled,” says actor Satish Kaushik. De Niro asked that the DVD be sent to his New York apartment. Interestingly, the film’s team thought De Niro was asking for the DVD merely out of courtesy. “But when his business manager reminded
us about it again at the Berlin Film Festival, we were pleasantly surprised. Apart from being a great artiste, he is also a wonderful human being,” says Kaushik.
Understandably, Kaushik has been raving about the Hollywood star ever since. “When I was introduced to him as a great actor from India, I was completely speechless. When we shook hands, my hands were frozen... it was like a dream come true,” he says.
“He told me he has been hearing lot of good things about the film. I couldn’t believe somebody like Robert Di Nero was saying that to me,” he adds.
The film features Abhay Deol as a young man journeying with cinema exhibitors in the deserts of Rajasthan. Tannishtha Chatterjee plays a tribal woman while Kaushik plays a projectionist. The film, which was received well at various international film festivals, releases in India on March 5.