Playing Dhalsim, an Indian yogi and martial artist, in the upcoming video game adaptation Street Fighter, actor Vidyut Jammwal says he is struck by how well his international collaborators understand Indian culture. Making his Hollywood debut with the film, he believes the experience has also made him reflect on how Indians perceive their own representation on screen.
“They see us exactly the way we are meant to be seen; only we see them thinking that they are seeing us like this,” he says, reflecting on whether Indian actors are still being offered characters that fit familiar stereotypes. He points to the portrayal of Sardars in Indian cinema as an example of how the industry has often relied on caricatures of its own communities. “We Indians have a problem, we see Sardars as somebody you can joke about in movies till people like Diljit Dosanjh and other spectacular Sardars came,” he says.
Speaking about his co-stars’ connection with India, Vidyut points out that 50 Cent has visited the country repeatedly, while Momoa’s interest in Indian culture and Cody Rhodes’ curiosity about the country’s audiences have challenged his assumptions about how international stars view India. “50 has come to India more than a lot of Indians living abroad. Jason loves everything he knows about India, and Cody wants to come to India because he believes what Roman has told him, that Indians are crazy about watching action live,” he says.
For Jammwal, the conversation around representation is not limited to how international cinema portrays India. He believes the country’s cultural traditions and identities deserve to be understood in their entirety. His character in Street Fighter, he points out, represents much more than yoga. “But Dhalsim is not just a yogi, he is the Kalaripayatt practitioner. He’s a person who’s dedicated his life to martial arts and we Indians are like this. We’ve dedicated our lives to so many things. We are the flag bearers of yoga, martial arts. In the real sense,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}For Jammwal, the conversation around representation is not limited to how international cinema portrays India. He believes the country’s cultural traditions and identities deserve to be understood in their entirety. His character in Street Fighter, he points out, represents much more than yoga. “But Dhalsim is not just a yogi, he is the Kalaripayatt practitioner. He’s a person who’s dedicated his life to martial arts and we Indians are like this. We’ve dedicated our lives to so many things. We are the flag bearers of yoga, martial arts. In the real sense,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}The actor also feels a personal connection with Dhalsim, whose discipline and philosophy resonate with his own approach to life. “It’s a complete autobiographical role for me. Like, everything, like he’s a yogi who will fight for a cause otherwise he’ll not fight. He’s highly skilled but he will only fight if he has to really stand up for a cause. His breathing is one of his fortes and I enjoy breathing a lot in awareness. I talk about it, I post videos on it, I do stories on it, I display it. So it was like quite, it was meant to come to me,” he says.
What particularly impresses Jammwal is the research that went into finding an Indian actor for the character. He says the film’s producers and director took the time to understand his work and personality before approaching him. “The first thing was that the producer and the director have really worked on looking for this character. Like the hard work they’ve done to find an Indian actor with the character that they wanted to merge of Street Fighter. The research they’ve done is incredible,” he says.
His first conversation with director Kitao Sakurai further reinforced that impression. “When I spoke to the director who’s Japanese-American, I was impressed with the fact that he really has watched my movies. He’s watched my interviews to know that if he’s the real thing. And for me, it was amazing. It was easy for me to experience somebody who’s done everything, all the research. He knows everything about me, my past, my meditations. And the first call was about everything about breathing and how I do it. So, it was good to be in a conversation with somebody who knows more about you than a lot of people,” he says.
Sakurai’s approach to cultural representation also leaves an impression on the actor. “Kitao, who’s a Japanese-born American, is so particular about the sensibility of the culture and the religion that it impresses me,” Jammwal says, adding that the experience challenges assumptions about how people from outside India understand its traditions.
Despite making his Hollywood debut in a film featuring some of the biggest names in international entertainment, Jammwal says the prospect of working on a global platform does not weigh on him. Instead, he approaches the opportunity with excitement. “There was no pressure. There was only excitement,” he says, describing the experience as an opportunity to learn, connect with his co-stars and take his work to a wider audience.