Photographs by Manmeet Bhatti

Many times one simply needs the work. I’ve done plenty of one-dimensional roles, not out of choice. But when possible, I redefine a flat character, lend it shades, infuse exuberance if called for.

He reels back in recollection. Picture a shot being readied on location for Ramanand Sagar’s mid-’70s hit, Charas. Tom Alter, sharing the sets for the first time with Amjad Khan, is stunned; the late veteran actor suddenly starts frisking him, almost as security men do. The two haven’t met before. Overhearing Alter converse in chaste Hindi, Khan exclaims, "Nahi, main microphone dhoond raha hoon, yeh gora aise Hindi kaise bol sakta…?" (I’m looking for a microphone – how can this foreigner speak such good Hindi?)

Singling out this episode as unusually amusing, Alter admits to actually getting a bit weary of the ‘everyone’s so surprised’ reaction, throughout his working life here. For the American, son of Presbyterian missionary parents, who grew up loving the lofty landscape of the Mussoorie hills he was born amidst, 52 years ago, it scarcely seemed exceptional learning the local lingo so remarkably as to perfect a career of it in Hindi films and theatre. As a boy he savoured the sight of his father reading and writing impeccable Urdu, preaching from an Urdu Bible. "The north of the country was faithful to Hindustani then. At least 75 per cent of the language was peppered with Urdu, unlike the other way about, today," he rues, confessing to a fascination for speaking formal Hindi fluently at Woodstock School.