Singular and Available

“Ajay Jhankar,the writer of Singularity,is a friend and he suggested that I audition for the role of Havaldar Desai. After giving me a character brief,the director asked me to answer as the character would have as he interviewed me,” says Thombre.

Joffe,nominated for Oscars for films such as The Killing Fields and The Mission,liked Thombre’s mock performance,and the latter soon found himself rubbing shoulders with Hollywood heartthrob Josh Hartnett among others. The Indian actors in the film are Abhay Deol,Bipasha Basu and Atul Kulkarni. “The crew comprises Oscar winners and nominees right from the make-up director to the videographer to the director himself. When working in such a demanding environment where so much attention is given to the minutest detail and planning,you automatically put in your best effort,” says Thombre,well-known for his performance in a political TV drama called Daulat,and serials such as Bhoomiputra and Made in China.

In the film,Thombre’s character finds an ally in Captain James Stewart,played by Hartnett. The friendship soon extended to the actors on the set. “When my niece asked me how I was handling being with Josh Hartnett,I did not know how to answer. I told Josh of the incident and he told me that he himself didn’t know how to handle being Josh Hartnett,” he says with a laugh.

The sets of Singularity was a melting pot,with the cast and crew drawn from India,New Zealand,Australia,America,the UK and other parts of the world. “Everybody was keen to know more about Indian philosophy,society and culture,” recalls Thombre.

Even as the film gets ready for release in 2012,the actor has already found another pastime — studying supercomputing and figuring out how it can be implemented in India.