“Most of my scenes are with Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Sophia Loren,” he chuckles, happy to be part of the film, to be directed by Rob Marshall (of Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha fame).
An adaptation of Federico Fellini’s film 8 ˝ and produced by the Weinstein Company, Nine revolves around the topsy-turvy relationships film director (Daniel Day-Lewis) has with his wife (Judi Dench), his muse (Nicole Kidman), his agent (Marion Cotillard) and his mother (Sophia Loren). To de-stress, he joins a Latin ballroom dance class, where he finds a beautiful student who later becomes his mistress (Penelope Cruz). His wife finds out and along with the dance teacher (Soparrkar) and his mother, she decides to unravel the mystery behind the affair.
Soparrkar was initially called on to choreograph the film after his work in The Myth won him much acclaim. “But the producers asked me to audition because they thought I would best fit the role of the half-Spanish, half-Indian dance teacher,” he says. He will also be choreographing two songs for the film, featuring Cruz and Day-Lewis.
Choreography comes naturally to him but is acting his cup of tea? “Marshall once told me that ‘All dancers are good actors’. It will be challenging to do both—choreograph and act. But then I’ll almost be playing myself, a Latin ballroom dance instructor, in the first half of the movie, only the second half where I play the detective will be a bit tough,” smiles Soparrkar.
Soparrkar, who has had a taste of Hollywood before, loves it at the top. “I’m eagerly waiting for the shoot to begin in early October in New York. The film should be out by next year,” he says.
