Dev Patel wanted to honour victims of Mumbai terror attack in new film

Dev Patel fought for a role in new movie Hotel Mumbai after learning the film would cover the bombing at the train station that featured in Slumdog Millionaire.
The actor and co-star Freida Pinto performed their Jai Ho dance sequence at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus just a few months before it became the site of a terrorist attack on India by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, and when Dev learned of director Anthony Maras’ plans to detail the real-life drama, he felt he had to be a part of it.
“That full-bodied dance scene was kind of an anthem for the country when it came out, and so to see that train station attacked, with such a high death toll, where these kind of men just walked in and unloaded automatic gunfire, mowing down so many people, it just was shocking and terrifying,” he tells WENN.
“When there was talk of a movie happening, I made it clear that I was very interested. And I’ve been more vocal in the process of making this film than I have with really anything that I’ve done, to make sure we try and do it right.”
The actor plays a Taj Hotel doorman, named Arjun, in the film, and Patel reveals he went out of his way to make sure his portrayal was authentic.
“I visited the Taj and noticed that most of the doormen there were Sikh,” he explains. “I asked Anthony, ‘Are you cool with me growing a big beard and putting on a turban?’ He was completely open to it. I’m really proud that we had the chance to address some cultural and racial issues and really put a focus on an under-represented community.”
From there, the actor spent time with Sikh communities in Mumbai and visited a gurdwara temple of worship.