Abhay Deol to learn Tamil for Shanghai

To play the role of a south Indian IAS officer in Dibakar Banerjee’s political thriller Shanghai, actor Abhay Deol has roped in a language expert to help him perfect the nuances of spoken Tamil.

Actor Abhay Deol hires language expert to perfect lines in upcoming film Shanghai.

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To play the role of a south Indian IAS officer in Dibakar Banerjee’s political thriller Shanghai, actor Abhay Deol has roped in a language expert to help him perfect the nuances of spoken Tamil.

“He had a language coach when we were filming and he would go through every line with him before shooting his scenes,” confirms Dibakar, adding with a laugh, “Now, the only person who can destroy the film is me; everyone else has done a great job.”

Abhay plays the part of a public servant in the film.

"He is a Deol, a nice Punjabi munda (boy) from the north. But you have to hear him speaking in Tamil. You can’t imagine the way he delivers the lines. He’s not only spoken fluently, but also mouthed Hindi in the true Tamil accent," says the Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) director.

A few days ago, Abhay had said that his character is very similar to former justice of the Supreme Court of India and ex-Karnataka Lokayukta Justice, Santosh Hedge.

“What he means is that when we were researching, we were thinking about people, who were in influential positions in the government, but when it comes to taking political decisions, these officials would also be led by their human principles.”

That’s when Abhay and Dibakar came across Justice Hedge.

“Abhay heard some of his utterances and read his judgments. Then, he worked out his character sketch. Abhay’s part in the beginning is interesting it’s full of contrasts. He’s ambitious, complex and egoistical. His journey to reach a different level is the most important part of the film, and to show that, we needed a few real-life examples,” says Dibakar.