Mumbai-based British actor Benedict Garrett has been working in India since 2022 and has collaborated with some of the country’s biggest names. He has shared the screen with Amitabh Bachchan , Salman Khan , Yash, Pawan Kalyan, Vijay Deverakonda, Vijay Sethupathi and others throughout his career. In an interview with Hindustan Times, the actor, however, admits that he did not realise the extent of most of his co-stars’ stardom while sooting with them. Bodyguards carrying machine guns and fawning on set was the giveaway.
(Also Read: Benedict Garrett describes the chaos of being a Britisher on a Telugu film set; trauma from Ranabaali role almost making him cry | Interview )
Oh, okay, I didn’t know. I’d consider visiting it, but would never live here, necessarily. So, having worked with so many big names, I have to pinch myself to believe it. I’ve been very fortunate and lucky to work with not just big names, but interesting people to learn from, to talk to, to watch, and perform with, which has been really helpful in my acting career as well,” he adds. The actor then chuckles and adds, “It can be a little bit difficult when there’s a whole team of bodyguards and somebody holding a machine gun on the side. So, it can be a little bit distracting sometimes. But that was the case with Pawan Kalyan , and with Salman Khan, some people with big guns. But apart from that, it’s relatively, fairly a normal process. He also has the Marathi sports drama Khashaba, an independent Hindi legal drama shot in Australia, Prashanth Neel’s Telugu film Dragon with Jr NTR, and a few other films. “You know, you end up working with some amazing productions and people on some low-budget films, too. We have new directors, young people who are coming through. So, I just want to open myself to all sorts of opportunities and see what’s out there,” he rounds off.
In 2022, Benedict starred in an ad for Dabur Lal featuring Amitabh, but did not know anything about the Bollywood veteran’s stardom. “10 years ago, if you’d asked me about living in India, I never would’ve thought it. Benedict’s next film Ranabaali is hitting screens on October 16.
Because I wasn’t really fully aware.
“I had begun to watch a little of Indian cinema before coming here, but it’s not something I grew up with,” he explains, adding, “So, when I landed, I remember doing an advert with Amitabh Bachchan in my first year. At the time, my agent said, he’s like the king of Bollywood. The actor says he has been lucky over the last four-and-a-half years to have worked with Indian actors who taught him a great deal.
