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Sometimes you’ll get a chance to rehearse ahead of time with the director, but it’s rare. We had an acting coach lead us through a bunch of exercises for team building and chemistry-that included Lena, and our director of photography, Patrice, and the entire cast, which I’d never done before. Our first meeting, for our table read, before we had even introduced ourselves she made us drop our scripts. In talking to her, I didn’t realize how much of the stories were based on true immigrant stories-she’d conducted a number of interviews with immigrants.įrom Day 1, it was very clear she was doing things differently. The script is personal to her, too, since she’s Indian-American. I was really excited by her excitability. I didn’t know Lena before this, I just knew she wrote the script that my agent sent to me. What did her fresh perspective on filmmaking bring to the process? Tell me more about working with Lena Khan-this was the first feature she’s directed. It was a chance for me to talk to my mom and my family, and learn more about their goodbyes.
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That was the first time really talking to my mom about what that was like, and it was obviously really hard for her. This was before email and Snapchat and instant connectivity, so it was different-when you were saying goodbye, the goodbye was more loaded. She had to say goodbye to her siblings and her dad, and didn’t necessarily know if she was ever going to come back. Before that scene, I talked to my mom quite a bit about what it was like to leave her family in Poland. For instance, there’s a scene in the film where I’m saying goodbye to my mom in India, telling her I have to go and pursue my dream to become this great engineer and live up to my father’s legacy. In researching the film, I spoke with my mom a lot about her journey here. Our house was the first house in Chicago for our family, so we were frequently bringing in relatives who were sponsored, to use our home as a crash pad before they would go on to build their own lives. My whole childhood was spent in this very colorful world where we were constantly driving to O’Hare to pick up relatives that I may not have ever known before. is an immigrant story, which was something I could connect to in a very deep way. Both, obviously, from completely different perspectives, but they’re both immigrants. My mom’s from Poland, and she immigrated to Chicago in the 1970s. My dad’s from India and immigrated to Chicago in the 1970s. What did that personal connection allow you to bring to the character? Did you channel your parents in any specific ways? From an acting point of view, as an artist, I was very excited. It was a chance for me to tell the story of my parents, in some ways.Īt the same time, the other exciting thing was the opportunity for me to play a lead character in an indie film for the first time. So, as an immigrant story about Chicago, it was very personal to me. I also told her I related to it because I ride a Vespa-in the opening scene, Sami’s riding a scooter through his village. I thought someone had just been kind of following my life, I thought it was a prank from some college buddies! When I met with Lena, I told her I really connected to the story, because my dad immigrated from India to Chicago in the ’70s, just like the main character, Sami. When I first read the script, I was surprised-there were so many elements to the script that were personal to me. With the cancellation of his recent Vanessa Hudgens–led sitcom, Powerless, the release of indie rom-com The Tiger Hunter has the potential to transition Pudi into a new phase of his career: the leading man.Īs someone who grew up in Chicago as the son of two immigrants, you must have such a personal connection with your character, Sami. The skilled improviser endears audiences with his gawky approachability, with his characters always anchored in warmth and humanity. Pudi is a native Chicagoan (of Brighton Park and Jefferson Park), a Second City alum, and an avid marathon runner-but you probably know him as pop culture–obsessed Abed on NBC’s Community. And it’ll bring a big smile to your face. It gives faces and narratives to the folks whose lives are regularly batted around the political arena on every level. In The Tiger Hunter (also featuring Rizwan Maji, Jon Heder, Karen David and more), first-time feature film director Lena Khan tells a deeply American story of immigrant optimism. Pudi plays Sami Malik, who moves to Chicago from India in the 1970s in search of a new life-just like Pudi’s father did, and his mother did from Poland. What if you could go back in time and live your parents’ lives in their 20s? That’s what Danny Pudi got to do in his starring role in The Tiger Hunter, a script that fell into his lap but rings startlingly true to his upbringing.