The producers of Apple TV+ series Shantaram went to great lengths to transform an area just outside of Bangkok into the slums of 1980s Bombay after COVID prevented them from filming in Mumbai.
While critics have already given their verdict on the 12-part drama, there is still one opinion cast member Rachel Kamath is awaiting.
“My dad’s from Mumbai so I’m really excited for him to see it and just see what he thinks,” she told IF.
“The graphics are beautiful and look great, but he was there in the ’80s, so I feel like he’s really the person to ask if it’s believable or not.”
The Melbourne-based actress stars as Parvati in the series, which follows a fugitive named Lin Ford (Charlie Hunnam) as he attempts to fly under the radar in 1980s Bombay after escaping an Australian prison.
Kamath’s character is among the dwellers of the Sagar Wada slum that Lin inhabits and the love interest of Prabaker “Prabhu” Kharre (Shubham Saraf), a tour guide whom he befriends.
Based on Gregory David Roberts’ 2003 novel of the same name, the project was co-created, written, and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot, who also serves as showrunner.
A fan of the book, which she describes as a “love letter to India”, Kamath first heard about the big-budget adaptation when it was first announced in 2019, of which Eric Warren Singer was showrunner and Australian Justin Kurzel was set up director.
However, it wasn’t until after production had shut down in 2020 amid a delay in scripts and a reshaped version was in the works with Lightfoot at the helm that she was in the mix for the project.
“At that time [when I first heard about it] they were looking at I think casting from India itself, so any Australian roles would have primarily been people of Caucasian descent, so I thought, ‘Well, that’s fine, that’s how it is’,” she said.
“Then in lockdown, I heard they were casting again and this time I had the opportunity to audition, but I didn’t know what role it was for because they kept changing the names to keep everything a secret.
“I did a bunch of different scenes before they came clean and said you got the role and are heading to Thailand.”
Production took place in the second half of 2021, with filming taking place across Melbourne and Thailand.
The timing of the shoot meant Kamath essentially went from “one lockdown to another”, with the actor describing her six months involved with the project as an “intense period”.
“I felt like all my focus and everything that I could do and all the people I knew were all attached to the projects,” she said.
“We were all in this like one bubble together with nothing else to do but that and I mean that in a good way.”
It’s a significant step forward for the actor and producer, whose credits include the lead role in 2019 independent comedy The Taverna and a supporting role in season two of Jack Irish, as well as theatre productions, Reigen and What Every Girl Should Know.
Having spent much of her early life in Dubai, Kamath came to Melbourne when she was 16 and studied engineering and Monash University before deciding on a career in arts and spending two years in LA studying at Stella Adler Academy of Theatre.
While she has never lived in India, she has travelled to Mumbai many times through her family connections to the city, most recently as April this year.
She credited Shantaram with encouraging her to access parts of herself that she “probably hadn’t in a while”.
“There are parts of me that are very Indian that I accessed because of the role and so having done all that work, it was a different feeling going back to India this year.
“I can’t quite describe it, but it was something where I was like, Ok, I understand this a little bit more”, whether it’s the culture or the way people are.
“I spent so much time researching and thinking about it, and reflecting on how things work in our culture that’s different to where I grew up.”
Kamath’s focus going forward lies in Melbourne, where she is hoping to produce more theatre and work with more Australian writers and talent.
In front of the camera, she expressed a desire to work on another big-scale project like Shantaram and play characters with an overall authentic presence that “you could relate to”.
“I really liked this project because I got to play this character in a way that I would have wanted to see people of Indian descent being portrayed on screen.
“I got to contribute to that in my way, which I was very happy to do.”
Shantaram is now streaming on Apple TV+.