In India a Leading Man, in America an Everyman
印度男主角美國無名咖
By Kathryn Shattuck

“Hollywood isn’t ready for an Indian leading man,” Irrfan Khan declared one recent evening.
印度影星伊凡卡漢近日宣稱：「好萊塢還無法接受印度人做男主角。」

He was nursing a sore throat and fatigue after a marathon post-production session for Ang Lee’s film “Life of Pi.” His acclaimed performance in the HBO series “In Treatment” last season was followed by supporting roles in two major American movies, “Pi” and Marc Webb’s big-budget rebooting of “The Amazing Spider-Man,” both of which were demanding jaunts from his home in India to studios in Taiwan, Canada and the United States.
在李安執導的「少年PI的奇幻漂流」的馬拉松後製期之後，伊凡卡漢正在護嗓並休養解勞。他在HBO影集「捫心問診」上一季的演出頗受好評，接著在兩部美國大片中擔任配角，一是「少年PI的奇幻漂流」，另一部是由馬克韋柏執導的高預算重拍影片「蜘蛛人驚奇再起」。兩片他都得在家鄉印度和台灣、加拿大及美國片場之間辛苦奔波。

“It will take time before Hollywood is free to write a story about an Indian guy, unless it’s about the dark side of India, like ‘Slumdog,’ ” Mr. Khan said, referring to Danny Boyle’s 2008 Oscar-sweeping movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” in which he played a detective who interrogates a young pauper he suspects of cheating on a game show. “They don’t want to see a normal India,” he added. “That’s not the shock value they have to have.”
卡漢說：「好萊塢還要點時間，才能自在地寫出印度人的故事，像『貧民窟居民』那種講印度黑暗面的不算。」他指的是導演丹尼波爾在2008年橫掃奧斯卡獎的「貧民百萬富翁」，卡漢在片中飾演盤問一名貧民青少年的刑警，他懷疑那名青少年在電視遊戲問答節目中作弊。卡漢還說：「好萊塢不想看正常的印度，那不是他們渴望擁有的、讓人眼睛一亮的題材。」

His current wish list: a choice of roles, maybe even as an action hero. A career that transcends race, religion and country.
他目前的願望是：可以選擇飾演的角色，也許甚至是演個動作片英雄。他希望自己的演員生涯能夠超越種族、宗教和國家。

“Paan Singh Tomar,” his latest Hindi-language film, is based on the life of a champion steeplechase runner who is stung by the government’s betrayal of his impoverished village and becomes a bandit.
卡漢最近一部印地語電影「運動員」，改編自越野障礙賽冠軍選手的人生故事，這名選手因為政府背棄他的窮困村莊而深受刺激，後來成為土匪。

After graduating from drama school, Mr. Khan was cast in 1987 in Mira Nair’s “Salaam Bombay!” He wept when his part was cut. Several television series later, on the verge of quitting, Mr. Khan was chosen as the lead in “The Warrior,” Asif Kapadia’s sweeping 2001 adventure. Two years later “Maqbool,” Vishal Bhardwaj’s gangland updating of “Macbeth,” transformed Mr. Khan into a heartthrob in the moment he traced the actress Tabu’s parted lips through a gauzy veil.
卡漢從戲劇學院畢業後，1987年曾在米拉奈爾導演的「孟買你好！」片中演出，後來那些片段被刪，他還落淚。演出幾部電視連續劇後，他幾乎要改行，這時候他獲選在阿西夫卡帕迪亞執導、2001年得過許多獎項的冒險片「殺神輓歌」中擔任主角。兩年後，在維夏巴拉瓦吉執導、改編自莎士比亞劇作「馬克白」的黑社會片「馬克卜」（暫譯）中，有一幕他透過薄紗尋得女主角塔布張開的雙唇，他也搖身一變，成為令人迷戀的偶像。

While he usually cuts a dashing figure in Indian films, Hollywood has mostly cast Mr. Khan in Everyman roles. He first became familiar to audiences in the United States for “The Namesake,” Ms. Nair’s 2007 adaptation of the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri about a Bengali couple who move from Kolkata to New York City.
卡漢在印度電影中經常扮演耀眼的人物，好萊塢卻至今多半讓他扮演凡夫俗子。他最早讓美國觀眾熟知的影片，是女導演米拉奈爾2007年的作品「同名之人」，改編自鍾芭．拉希莉的小說，講的是一對從加爾各答搬到紐約市的孟加拉夫婦的故事。

It was Dan Futterman, an executive producer of “In Treatment,” who brought Mr. Khan to American TV in the critically acclaimed role of Sunil, a grieving Bengali widower displaced in Brooklyn, for which the actor, now 45, was cosmetically aged. “He has that ineffable thing that certain great actors have of doing very little but drawing the audience in,” Mr. Futterman said.
把卡漢帶進美國電視影集的是「捫心問診」的執行製作丹富特曼，卡漢在劇中飾演蘇尼爾一角廣獲好評，蘇尼爾是個悲傷的孟加拉鰥夫，在布魯克林流離失所，現年45歲的卡漢在劇中化上老妝。丹富特曼說：「他擁有一些傑出演員那種說不出的特質，他們幾乎沒做什麼，卻能吸引大批觀眾。」

Mr. Lee, said it was “an obvious no-brainer” to turn to Mr. Khan for “Life of Pi,” based on Yann Martel’s fantasy novel about a shipwrecked Indian boy adrift on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. “I found that the book had a very mature voice, not like a teenager’s,” Mr. Lee said of his decision to have Mr. Khan play the adult Pi, who narrates the film, to be released in December in most countries.
李安曾說，他找卡漢演出「少年PI的奇幻漂流」是理所當然的，此片根據楊．馬泰爾的小說改編，劇情是一名印度男孩在船難後坐在一艘救生艇上，跟一隻孟加拉虎漂浮海上。對於決定由卡漢飾演成年PI擔任劇中敘述者，李安說：「我發現原著主角的口吻非常成熟，不像青少年。」該片多數國家將於2012年12月上映。

Could Mr. Khan become the first Indian to capture the lead in a mainstream American movie? “Women find him intensely delectable,” Mr. Webb said, citing swoons on the “Spider-Man” set.
卡漢會成為第一個在美國主流電影中擔綱的印度人嗎？馬克韋柏以「蜘蛛人驚奇再起」拍片現場很多人瘋他為例說：「女性覺得他很討喜。」

“People want to see great actors, they want to see an interesting face, and he’s both,” Mr. Lee added. “But usually it’s the actor bending toward the audience. With Irrfan, the audience might have to bend toward him a little bit.”
李安說：「觀眾想看傑出演員，他們想看有趣的臉孔，卡漢二者兼具。演員通常自有親近觀眾的天份，但就卡漢來說，觀眾或許必須更親近他一點。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/movies/irrfan-khan-bollywood-hero-american-everyman.html

2012-03-06聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 馮克芸譯原文參見紐時週報十二版下