Elsa Angel Rose
I have many good memories in Goa. I have met fascinating people here; some of my friends are from Goa, and some of them have moved to Goa. I love Goa, I love Konkani food, specifically crab, I love it, I can eat here all day, every day, and I’ll be totally happy. I don’t get to come to Goa a lot is the truth,” shared Suraj Sharma. ‘The Life of Pi’, fame actor, is in Goa for the world premiere of his movie, ‘This Tempting Madness’ on the 27th of November. The movie, directed by Jennifer E Montgomery, with Simon Ashley in the lead role, has Sharma playing the role of her brother. “My character is deeply close to his sister, and he doesn’t want to lose her sister; he doesn’t want her to lose herself, and he wants her alive. So, in a sense, my character is an embodiment of love and trust in a family that is caught in a violent sort of situation,” said the actor. He and the director, Jennifer, had a lot of conversations about how to offer soft and supportive care while harnessing anger. This Tempting Madness is a psychological thriller about a woman who wakes from a coma with memory loss, her husband in jail, and her own past in doubt. As she tries to piece together what happened, her perception of reality becomes distorted as she grapples with conflicting emotions like love, guilt, and fear. ‘Bridgerton’ star Simon Ashley is in the lead role. The ‘Gulmohar’ actor expressed how wonderful his experience was of working with a great team. He said, “Working with the cast was amazing, the team is great, the story is amazing.” On his experience of working with Simon Ashley, he shared, “She is an incredible actor and a really genuine, sweet, and good soul, so I really enjoyed working with everyone in the team.” IFFI is not unknown to him; the actor rose to fame with his debut movie, ‘The Life of Pi’, which had its world premiere at IFFI first. The actor shared, “IFFI has always been good to me, it’s fun, and you get to meet very interesting people.” When asked about his expectations from the 56th IFFI for his movie, Suraj said, “What I am hoping for is that people get to watch it with some amount of consciousness, because the movie discusses a very important topic, and it does it in an enigmatic and dark way. And the movie is also based on a true story, and it is unbelievable. Part of the movie-watching experience is to understand that these things happen in real life, and you are not alone when such things happen; there needs to be conversations available to people who are dealing with these problems, so they feel that they are not alone.” This year’s theme for IFFI is the convergence of creativity with technology. The actor shared a thoughtful perspective on the growing role of AI in today’s world: “AI is not just for cinema, and this is something we have to think about as a society, as a collective, regardless of the industry. I believe that humans have always evolved with tools. AI is a tool; I hope that we protect the importance of the artists within this sphere.”
