Warning:   Plot details and spoilers ahead.

Q: About shaving your head, how did you prepare for that scene?

KP:   That scene was very important for Gogol because, up until his father’s death, the past few years of his life he’s distanced himself from his family because he’s gotten caught up in his college life first, that’s kind of where it starts, you don’t see it in the film but it’s described vividly in the book.   He loses touch with his parents after his first semester.   Basically he starts getting more and more into being a Yalie, and when he goes to grad school at Columbia he’s so close but he still doesn’t see his parents that much.   Then he starts dating Maxine and then pretty much falls into her life.  

The death of his father makes him realize he’s been ignoring his own family and that smacks him back into the reality of that ignorance, so him shaving his head is a tribute to his father.   Obviously, it was a difficult scene to do because as Gogol the death of somebody who is so close to you who you have ignored for so long.

Q:   What kind of direction did you get from Mira for that scene?

KP:   Mira, particularly in the scene in the bedroom where Gogol collapses on Ashoke’s bed, I’ve never had a director be this amazing in a scene before.   This was the second day of shooting and we sat up and rehearsed the scene and usually when you’re on any film set, there are 50 people in the room on the other side of the camera, and by the way, it’s very expensive to shoot a film because every one of those 50 people is on an hourly wage so every minute you’re spending a significant amount of money, so the earlier you finish your day the cheaper it is and the more money you’ve saved.   Mira is one of the rare directors who focuses more on performance than anything else and she cleared the room and said “˜How much time do you need before we start the scene, just sitting in this room, because I assume you’re going to need some time to prepare and get into it.   Do you need ten minutes?’  

I’ve never been given that luxury and that courtesy ever before and I said “˜Sure, ten minute will be great’ and she said “˜Don’t time it, just whenever you’re ready knock on the door and we’ll come in and we’ll start the scene.’   That’s SO rare I can’t even tell you how rare that is for any director, and so she really gave me the space to prepare.

Q: Is there anything you can use from your own life to do that?   How did you prepare for that?

KP:   Luckily both my parents are alive.   I based a lot of that on what’s described in the book and I really cried my eyes out  the first time I read it.   When you’re playing the character and you’re in the moment and you just read that particular passage of the book and it conjures up the same reaction courtesy of Jhumpa’s amazing writing.

Q: With the mention of your parents, I have to say, around the time that we spoke two weeks ago, I happened to come across something on the Internet which was an interview that you did in Playboy just before Harold and Kumar came out, are you still fine with everything you said there?   Did your parents freak out, or is that all b.s?   [Note: It contains details about a threesome and the loss of virginity at college.]

KP:   It’s all b.s.   Let me explain how that interview happened; I’m glad you brought that up.   I love talking about this.  

Right before Harold and Kumar came out, we do the press junkets and the press tours and the studio had called and said “˜One of the interviews is Playboy magazine’ and I said “˜I’m not really comfortable being interviewed by Playboy’ and they said “˜Please, it’s the demographic for this film, we need you to do this interview’ and I said “˜Well, what are they going to ask me, because I don’t talk about things like that; it’s nobody’s business obviously.   You talk about the work and you don’t talk about intimate details.’ And they said “˜No, they’re not gonna ask you anything like that.’   “˜So what’s the column called?’   ’20 sex questions.’   I said “˜No, I’m not doing an interview about 20 sex questions!’   And they called me back and said “˜Please, we really need you to do it for the demographic.   It’ll help the film.’

So I called my manager and I said “˜Can you please just respectfully say that this is not something that I want to do?’   And he said “˜Do you think any actor does this?’   “˜Well yeah, they’ve got a whole bunch of actors who do it.’   And he said “˜I think people just make stuff up.’   “˜So you’re saying I should just make stuff up?’   He says “˜Yeah, if they ask ridiculous questions, give them ridiculous answers.’   I said “˜Alright, that sounds good to me.’  

So I agree to do the interview, and from the first question it’s “˜Have you ever had a threesome?   Where’d you lose your virginity?   Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever had sex?’   And I’m thinking “˜Aren’t you embarrassed to ask these questions, especially in a professional capacity?’   So I just gave him these answers like I thought Kumar would give him.  

The interview came out and my manager called me up and said “˜What did you do?’   And I said “˜What do you mean what did I do?’ And he says “˜That interview!’   I said “˜I know!   Isn’t it hilarious?’   He goes “˜Well, for you and me because we know you, but for the audience that doesn’t know you and they think of you as Kumar, it’s actually a believable interview.’   And I said “˜No one who knows me would think it’s believable.’   And he said “˜That’s the problem, the majority of the audience have never met you and will never meet you and they think that it’s real.’   So I thought “˜Oh God, that’s right!’  

And I know that my parents have set up for Google alerts and I’m like “˜Mom, just so you know, there’s an article that’s out there..’   I had to explain it to them, and they said “˜Why did you do that?’ And I said “˜I don’t know!’  

So, bottom line, lesson learned in manipulation of the press or however you want to call it.

Q:   How was your experience of going to India and seeing the Taj Mahal?  

KP:   The experience was wonderful.   I’d never been to either of those two cities where we shot and the cities themselves, much like New York and Calcutta are both characters in the film, the same way that Ashima and Ashoke are.   You got to Calcutta, it’s 120 degrees, completely chaotic, there are tens of thousands of people who watch you film when you film on the street.   I think that really invigorates the film because that’s all really taking place where it’s all supposed to take place.   So you’re just dropped in the center of a completely working city, there’s no NYPD to block off the street for you, there are no extras when you’re shooting, I mean, there are to some extent, but it is largely as chaotic as it’s supposed to be and I’m really thankful for that experience.

Q: Have you done a lot of family trips to India as a kid growing up?

KP:   Yeah, but not to those cities.   We had gone to Mumbai and Gujurat a couple of weeks over the summer to visit grandparents or relatives.

Q: And how was your reaction?   Were you more like Gogol, or Sonia?

KP:   It depends.   I think you fluctuate back and forth.   It depends on the trip, it depends on if you’re bummed out that you haven’t seen your friends or if you’re excited to see your family.   I think I enjoyed it.   I was always excited to go see family.  

Like I’ve said before, I never really thought of myself with any weird identity issues.   I’m an American kid and I have relatives in India so we’re gonna’ go visit them a lot and that was all there was to it.   There was never this weird “˜How do I fit in?   What am I thinking?’   I’m just going to visit my grandparents.

Q:   The box office of Harold and Kumar was about $19 million but the DVD really caught on in a huge, huge way.   What happened?

KP:   I don’t know, I think the box office was a failure pretty much.   I think it was not marketed properly in its original release, which I think deterred people from seeing the film.   But with DVDs the thing is that it catches on by word of mouth, we didn’t have a DVD marketing campaign.   It was honestly thanks to the fans where somebody saw the DVD and recommended it to their friends or bought it for them for Christmas or Diwali.   It just caught on and we’re thankful for that because it’s, I don’t want to say movement, but people who really loved the movie and when you shoot a movie for no money, I mean there was no budget on that, same with the sequel actually.   You don’t have that much support from the studio, that much support from anybody, it’s just the writers and the director and the love for doing it and that’s the biggest reason why that DVD response was so awesome for us because we”˜re so glad that people enjoyed the work.   So, thanks to particularly the fans who supported the film, that’s the only reason why we were able to make a sequel.  

Q:   The second one is being shot in Amsterdam?

KP:   No, in Shreveport, Louisiana.   We don’t know if that’s the title [Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam], actually that was the title, but then it was untitled and it looks like that’s how the movie might end but they’re being very secretive about it so I’m curious to see.   I heard that we might go to Amsterdam at the end of March to shoot a couple of scenes, so I have a feeling that the plot is about these guys going to Amsterdam and they get sidetracked, sort of like they were trying to get to White Castle and got sidetracked, but I think they make it on this trip.

Editor’s note:    Tomorrow’s interview, Mira Nair.