Denzil Smith
Denzil Leonard Smith | |
---|---|
Born |
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | 6 November 1960
Nationality | Indian |
Other names | Denzil L Smith, Denzel Smith |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1988–present |
Relatives |
Cheryl Roy-Smith (sister) Lionel Smith (brother) |
Denzil Smith (born 6 November 1960) is an Indian film and stage actor and producer. Born to Anglo-Indian parents in Mumbai, he is known for his stage and screen roles as a character actor. Denzil has acted in over 40 plays and 29 films.[1] He has a long-standing association with both Motley Productions for Waiting for Godot and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and PrimeTime Theatre for August: Osage County and Sammy among other works.
Notable international productions include Merchants of Bollywood (2007-2010) and Life of Buddha (2014). Film credits include Brahman Naman (2016), Bombay Velvet (2015), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), The Lunchbox (2013), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Frozen (2007), Ek Ajnabee (2005), and Paap (2003).
Early life
Smith was born into an Anglo-Indian family in Mumbai, in Maharashtra in India to Benjamin John Smith and Kathleen (Katsy) Maude Shepherd. He has an older sister Cheryl Roy-Smith, and younger brother Lionel Smith. Smith’s father was a civil servant with the Government of India, and possessed a deep love for music and the arts.[2] It was through him that Denzil was first exposed to music and theatre.
Smith's father played the accordion, piano, violin and ukulele. A talented singer, Benjamin was granted a leave of absence to represent India as part of the classical a cappella Paranjoti Academy Choir for an extended tour of Europe in the 1960s. His father died suddenly when Smith was 11.[2]
Smith completed his schooling at St Andrews in Bandra, and studied English Literature at the University of Mumbai.[3]
Career
Smith began his professional career as a Film Executive under Indian adman and actor, Alyque Padamsee, who was then CEO of the advertising agency Lintas.[4] In 1988, Smith quit his corporate career to focus on stage acting. He trained in voice at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, and was guided by Dr. Ashok Ranade and Pratap Sharma.[5]
In theater
A pivotal play early in his theatrical career was Pearl Padamsee’s Les Liaisons Dangereuse where he first worked with Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak. Shortly after this play, he became a member of Shah’s Motley Productions – a theatre group formed by Naseeruddin Shah, Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani. Smith played the role of Lucky in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot with Shah, Gilani, and Kenneth Desai.[6] He then went on to do Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Beckett’s Endgame, The Odd Couple and several other productions.[7] Smith then worked with Satyadev Dubey in Hindi productions such as Sambogh Se Sanyas Tak.
By 1998, he also began working extensively with Lilette Dubey’s PrimeTime Theatre in productions such as On a Muggy Night in Mumbai,[8] Zenkatha,[9] Sammy,[10] August: Osage County[11] and "Gauhar" about the life of Gauhar Jaan.[12] These plays toured both India and various cities in North America, UK and Europe, South-East Asia and Australia.
Smith also played key roles in numerous other productions such as Jawaharlal Nehru in Letters to a Daughter from Prison (directed by Vijaya Mehta and based on the 1984 publication of Nehru's letters),[13] Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar in Toronto, Canada, Vali and Vibishan in The Legend of Ram, Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler,[14] and the solo performer in four monologues written and directed by Zubin Driver in Mumbai vs Mumbai.[15]
In 2007, Smith joined All Star Artists for the Broadway style musical production The Merchants of Bollywood – written and directed by Toby Gough and choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant – in the lead role of the grandfather, Shantilal, and then later a double role that of "a splendidly-moustachioed narrator" and the sleazy Bollywood director Tony Bakshi.[16] There were 600 shows between 2007 and 2009 in the UK, Europe and Malaysia.[17] and he reprised his role for a run in the UK[18] and Lebanon in 2016. In 2017, Smith re-joined director Toby Gough, choreographer Shruti Merchant[19] and team as the voice of Raj Pakoda in the light-hearted dance musical Taj Express.[20]
In addition to his acting career, Smith also regularly curates theatre programming at Celebrate Bandra.[21]
In film
Smith has worked in a range of independent, Bollywood and international film productions. One of Smith’s early films was Mango Soufflé (2002), an adaptation of Mahesh Dattani’s successful English stage play On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, which was centered around the lives of gay men in Mumbai. The film starring Atul Kulkarni, Rinkie Khanna, Heeba Shah and Ankur Vikal, was promoted as "first gay male film from India." [22]
He is known for roles such as the Tibetan monk Lama Norbu in Paap (2003), directed by Pooja Bhatt and starring John Abraham, and as Tenzing in the film Frozen (2007), based in Leh and Ladakh. Among the many independent films he has worked in are Shobhayatra (2004), where he played Jawaharlal Nehru, The Memsahib (2006), Mumbai Salsa (2007), Chase (film) (2010), Lamhaa (2010), Impatient Vivek (2011), Tripura (2011), Ajita Suchitra Veera's Ballad of Rustom (2012), John Day (2013), and Dad... Hold My Hand! (2015). In 2017, Smith played the role of the Principal in the Marathi film Manjha (2017), directed by Jatin Wagle.[23]
He's also been featured in many Bollywood films such as Ek Ajnabee (2005) with Arjun Rampal, Amitabh Bachchan and Parizaad Zorabian, Zid (2014) and Bombay Velvet (2015) directed by Anurag Kashyap with Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor,[24][25][26] Kabir Khan's Phantom (2015) with Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif.[27] More recently, Smith appeared as the Manipuri militant leader in Disney's Jagga Jasoos (2017) with Ranbir Kapoor, directed by Anurag Basu[28] and the emergency period action film Baadshaho (2017) with Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi.[29]
Smith has featured in several international productions that have achieved both critical and commercial success – One Night with the King (2007) with Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole,[30] The Lunchbox (2013) with Irrfan Khan,[31] The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Bill Nighy and directed by John Madden[32] and Brahman Naman (2016), a Netflix original release[33] sex comedy, directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee, written by Naman Ramachandran[34] with Shashank Arora.[35]
Smith's most prominent international film til date is Gurinder Chadha's Viceroy's House (film) on India's partition in 1947 in which he plays the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[36][37]
On television, radio and voice
Smith has acted in many Indian television serials as well as international tele-series. Prominent ones include "P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke" (2016-2017) on Star Plus, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin (2012-2014) and C.I.D. (1997-2013) on Sony, Hansa: A Love Story, Rishtey and Time Bomb 9/11 on Zee TV, The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1990) on Doordarshan, The Return Of Sandokan on Italian National TV, and Samvidhaan: The Making of the Constitution of India (2014) produced by Rajya Sabha TV and directed by Shyam Benegal.
Smith regularly lends his voice for various radio dramas, documentaries and advertisements. His voice has been featured in Tiger's Eye and The Mrichhakatikaa for BBC Radio,[38][39][40] and on Personality Hour for Times FM.
Has also dubbed in Hindi feature films like Hanuman, House of Flying Daggers, The Boolean Conspiracy, Up, Bolt, James and the Giant Peach, Amar Chitra Katha, A Bugs Life, Shoot At Sight, Making of The Mahatma, Kung Fu Hustle and Red Cliff. He has done and several voiceovers for commercials, corporate films and documentaries.[41]
Media and events
Smith’s love of music – Jazz in particular – has translated into being a regular host of jazz festivals, music and other events. He regularly hosts Jazz tribute concerts on International Jazz Day at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and Blue Frog in Mumbai. He also co-hosted the META awards in 2014 with Perizaad Zorabian.[42][43]
Smith has been involved in charities such as Avehi Abacus.[44] He also conducts voice workshops in theatre institutes and colleges in India.[45][46][47]
Producer
Smith founded Stagesmith Productions in 2006 with an aim to produce Indian English Theatre rooted in homegrown narratives. Its first production, titled Jazz, starred actor Bhargava Krishna, saxophonist Rhys D’souza, and featured musical compositions by Merlin D’Souza.[48] The play opened to a full-house at the Prithvi Theatre Festival in 2007, and won a 'Best Actor' award for Krishna at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards in 2008.[49][50] The play has also been credited with laying the seed for Fernandes’ now-iconic book on the history of Jazz music in India and Goan Jazz musicians in Bombay’s film industry – Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age.[51][52]
In 2015, StageSmith revived Jazz, and renamed it Bombay Jazz with Smith himself playing the mentor – an amalgamation of jazz musicians Sebastian D’Souza, Chris Perry, Micky Correa, Chic Chocolate (also known as Louis Armstrong of India)[53] Frank Fernand and Anthony Gonsalves – [54] with saxophonist Rhys Sebastian D’Souza playing the mentee.
In 2016, StageSmith created a new production "Poetrification" dubbed as "Your moment to get smashed by some poetry & music."[55] In the performance, Denzil Smith, Danish Husain, and a musician craft a performance of poetry, music, and banter. Denzil performs pieces by English poets from the sub-continent - Dom Moraes, AK Ramanujan, Jeet Thayil, Arundhathi Subramaniam - while Danish recites Urdu poets - Ghalib, Noon Meem Rashed, Faiz, Zehra Nigah, Afzal Ahmed Syed. Through this, Adil Manuel or Beven Fonesca weave words with music.[56][57]
Filmography
Film | Role | Year |
---|---|---|
Beecham House (TV) | Maharaja of Kalyan | Filming |
Badla (2019 film) | Detective Sondhi | Fillming |
Photograph (2018) | Hasmukhbhai | Post-Production |
The Good Karma Hospital (TV) | Anish | 2019, Season 3, Episode 2 |
Made in Heaven (TV) | Mr Swarup | 2018, Episode 5 & 6 |
Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi | Adnan Chow | 2018 |
Baazaar | Kishore Wadhwa Nawab's Enemy | 2018 |
Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India | Activist Politician | 2018 |
Viceroy's House / Partition: 1947 | Muhammad Ali Jinnah | 2017 |
P.O.W. - Bandi Yuddh Ke (TV) | Lala/Jamal Rashid | 2016-17 |
Jagga Jasoos | Manipuri Militant Leader | 2017 |
Manjha | Principal | 2017 |
Baadshaho | Col Rudra Pratap Singh | 2017 |
Aksar 2 / Often 2 | Assassin | 2017 |
Woh Admi Bahut Kuch Jaanta Tha | Furkhan Quereshi | Filming |
Bombairiya | Rahul Saigal (Nandini’s father) | 2017 |
Black Widow: A Land Bleeds | Anthropologist | 2017 |
Ishq Forever (film) | Karan | 2016 |
Brahman Naman | Professor Bernie (Bernard Jude Kumar Irudayasam) | 2016 |
Phantom (2015 film) | Haider | 2015 |
Dad... Hold My Hand! | Father | 2015 |
Bombay Velvet | Larsen | 2015 |
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Mr. Dharuna, Viceroy Club Secretary | 2015 |
Points of Origin (Short) | Dr Ambani | 2014 |
Zid | Inspector Moses | 2014 |
Samvidhaan: The Making of the Constitution of India (TV Series) | Auctioneer | 2014 |
The Lunchbox | Mr Shroff | 2013 |
The Coffin Maker | Father John | 2013 |
John Day | Priest | 2013 |
Going Away | Ray DeCruz | 2013 |
Ballad of Rustom | Professor | 2012 |
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Mr. Dharuna, Viceroy Club Secretary | 2011 |
Tripura (Telefilm) | Shiva | 2011 |
Impatient Vivek | Rameshwar | 2011 |
Lamhaa: The Untold Story of Kashmir | Brigadier Sharma | 2010 |
Chase (film) | Dr. A.K. Sehgal | 2010 |
Shaurya: It Takes Courage to Make Right... Right | Brigadier P. P. V. Nair | 2008 |
Mumbai Salsa | Kay Kay | 2007 |
Frozen | Tenzing | 2007 |
The Memsahib | Prof. Neil Thakker | 2006 |
One Night with the King | Prince Carshena | 2006 |
Ek Ajnabee | Lee Kap | 2005 |
Rog | Deputy Commissioner Kumar | 2005 |
Shobhayatra | Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru / Dwivedi | 2004 |
Paap | Lama Norbu | 2004 |
Mango Souffle | Ranjith | 2002 |
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat | Mahesh Nair | 2001 |
The Return of Sandokan (TV) | Village Headman | 1996 |
Dubbing roles
Television animation
Program title | Original voice | Character | Dub Language | Original Language | Number of Episodes | Original Airdate | Dubbed Airdate | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Captain Planet and the Planeteers | David Coburn | Captain Planet | Hindi | English | September 15, 1990 – May 11, 1996 | Hired by Cartoon Network. | ||
Live action films
Film title | Actor | Character | Dub Language | Original Language | Original Year release | Dub Year release | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batman Forever | Val Kilmer | Bruce Wayne/Batman (First Dub) | Hindi | English | 1995 | 1995 | Saptrishi Ghosh dubbed this role in second dubbing. The Previous actor of the character was Michael Keaton,the Hindi dubbing actor for Michael's portrayal was Samay Raj Thakkar. |
Batman and Robin | George Clooney | Bruce Wayne/Batman (First Dub) | Hindi | English | 1997 | 1997 | Performed alongside Shanoor Mirza who voiced Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson / Robin, Anil Dutt who voiced Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze. |
The Phantom | Billy Zane | The Phantom / Kit Walker | Hindi | English | 1996 | 1996 | Performed alongside Shakti Singh who voiced James Remar as Quill in Hindi. |
Hellboy | Corey Johnson | Agent Clay (First Dub) | Hindi | English | 2004 | 2004 | Performed alongside Rajesh Jolly who voiced Ron Perlman as Hellboy in Hindi. |
V for Vendetta | Hugo Weaving | V (First Dub) | Hindi | English | 2005 | 2005 | |
Blade: Trinity | Wesley Snipes | Eric Brooks / Blade (First Dub) | Hindi | English | 2004 | 2004 | |
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Robert Redford | Alexander Pierce | Hindi | English | 2014 | 2014 | |
Ant-Man and the Wasp | Laurence Fishburne | Bill Foster | Hindi | English | 2018 | 2018 | |
References
- ↑ "Denzil Smith". IMDb. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- 1 2 "Denzil Smith Archives - Indian Memory Project". Indian Memory Project. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Denzil Smith - artist details". Mumbaitheatreguide.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Stocks". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Denzil Smith". Actorapher.wordpress.com. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Get Obsessed - HARD NEWS". Hardnewsmedia.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Breaking the code". Mid-day.com. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Indo-American Arts Council, Inc". Iaac.us. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Zen Katha English Play/Drama". Mumbaitheatreguide.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Sammy! - Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards". Metawards.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Play Review: August Osage County - Entertainment". Idiva.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Gauhar: A musical that retells the story of ambition, love and betrayal". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Nehru, J., & Gandhi, I. (1984). Letters from a Father to his Daughter. Children's Book Trust
- ↑ "Denzil Smith". Denzilsmith.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Theatre Review: Mumbai vs Mumbai". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Graham Watts (May 2010) "Review: the Merchants of Bollywood at Peacock Theatre". LondonDance.com Retrieved 12 May 2015
- ↑ (August 2009) "Mesmerising Bollywood musical thrills audience". The Star Online. Retrieved 12 May 2015
- ↑ "The Merchants of Bollywood - The Peacock". Sadlerswells.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "TAJ EXPRESS Bollywood Revue to Spread Color, Sparkle and Energy Across the US in 2017". Braodwayworld.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Taylor, Jeffery (18 June 2017). "Taj Express review: Dancing that goes straight to the heart". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑
- ↑ "Mango Souffle (2003)". Review Summary. Retrieved 19 Jul 2014.
- ↑ "Poster of Ashvini Bhave's 'Manjha' is out". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Denzil Smith". Denzilsmith.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Denzil Smith - Movies, Biography, News, Age & Photos - BookMyShow". BookMyShow. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "DENZIL SMITH SHOWREEL". Youtube.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Bhatia, Uday (28 August 2015). "Film review: Phantom". Livemint.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Jagga Jasoos box office collection prediction: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif starrer to earn under Rs 50 cr in India alone". Financialexpress.com. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Baadshaho: Just a regular action film". Telanganatoday.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Movie Reviews". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Rose, Steve (12 April 2014). "Calvary, The Raid 2, The Quiet Ones: this week's new films". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Brahman Naman movie review: Netflix's first Indian release is a first-rate sex comedy". India Today. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "'Brahman Naman' Review: Enjoyably Raunchy Comedy Hits The Spot". Huffingtonpost.com. 9 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Harvey, Dennis (26 January 2016). "Sundance Film Review: 'Brahman Naman'". Variety.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ "BBC Radio 3 - 7 March 2004 - BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Art and Adventure – Creative content for broadcast, film and video, online, live performance and commerce". Artandadventure.org. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ http://www.ylog.org/sujai, Sujai Kumar. "the industrial theatre co". Industrialtheatre.net. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Denzil Smith". Denzilsmith.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ Gino Banks Official (28 April 2015). "International Jazz Day 30th April 2015 Artists - Mumbai Edition Part 2". YouTube. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Jazz Goa celebrates International Jazz Day-1 free mp3 download". mp3tunes.org. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "United Way of Mumbai - Fundraiser Page - Denzil Smith". Unitedwaymumbai.org. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "The Learning Curve's course on The Art of Speaking. - BANDRA INFO". bandra.info. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "LOCAL VOCAL". epaper.timesofindia.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "The Art of Speaking - The Lifestyle Portal". Tanyamunshi.com. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Mumbai Mirror, Thursday, November 8, 2007". Retrieved 21 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "JAZZ - more than just a musical". jazz-morethanjustamusical.blogspot.in. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Jazz - english drama review". Mumbaitheatreguide.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine". archive.tehelka.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑
- ↑ Dorin, S. (2010). Jazz and race in colonial India: The role of Anglo-Indian musicians in the diffusion of jazz in India. Jazz Research Journal, 4(2), 123-140.
- ↑ "MUMBAI CITY [PG 4] : Unsung jazzmen of Bollywood to come alive, on stage". epaper.dnaindia.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Poetrification at Celebrate Bandra". Timeout.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "The Poetrification of Hindi and Urdu poetry". Mid-day.com. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "Be a part of 'qissebaazi', 'poetrification' at Chandigarh lit fest". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denzil Smith. |
- Denzil Smith on IMDb