Do you know why English actor Daniel Day Lewis, tipped to snap up the Best Actor honour at the 85th Academy Awards a.k.a the Oscars on Monday, for playing American president Lincoln, is more desi than you could ever imagine? Here's why:



Gandhi (1982)





'Gandhi' movie poster. 'Gandhi' movie poster.

Not many know that Day Lewis, then a budding actor of 24, plays a blink-and-miss role in Lord Attenborough's Gandhi (1982). The Lincoln actor played Colin, a youngster who intimidates Gandhi with racial barbs. Day Lewis thus ended up sharing screen space with none other than Ben Kingsley. Incidentally, Gandhi was the first feature film Day Lewis bagged in his acting career.



The scene takes place in racially divided South Africa but Attenborough cleverly disguised Pune as South Africa and shot all that country's scenes there. It is interesting to see how convincing and menacing Day Lewis is as the South African bully who threatens Gandhi's existence with just a look.







My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)





In the comedy drama 'My Beautiful Laundrette', Day Lewis plays one of the protagonists. In the comedy drama 'My Beautiful Laundrette', Day Lewis plays one of the protagonists.

In this comedy drama, Day Lewis plays one of the protagonists, a closeted homosexual street thug. While he does not share a single frame with Indian actor Roshan Seth, best known for playing Nehru in Gandhi, he does have a scene with Bollywood's own Saeed Jaffrey.



A Room with a View (1985)





In the movie 'A Room with a View', Day Lewis plays Cecil Vyse, fiance of protagonist Lucy Honeychurch. In the movie 'A Room with a View', Day Lewis plays Cecil Vyse, fiance of protagonist Lucy Honeychurch.

Directed by James Ivory, this Oscar-winning film was produced by the late Bombay-born Ismail Merchant. Day Lewis plays Cecil Vyse, fiance of protagonist Lucy Honeychurch. Incidentally, the film was an adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel by the same name. Forster spent two summers travelling in India and also wrote A Passage to India. A Room with a View's screenwriter, Ruth Praver-Jhabvala was married to Indian Parsi architecht Cyrus Jhabvala.



His Father



His father, English poet-laureate Cecil Day Lewis had created quite a stir in his days when he reportedly got involved beyond thecall of duty with Lucknow-born Indian author Attia Hosain, who had moved to England. He was the latter's editor at the publishing house Chatto & Windus and edited her novel Sunlight on a Broken Column. In an interview she said that when her literary agent informed her that Cecil Day Lewis was editing her book, she had been absolutely amazed. She had only read his poems until then and admired him for his work. At some point in the interview she admits that eventually, he became 'a very dear friend.'



Lincoln (2012)





A still from the movie 'Lincoln'. A still from the movie 'Lincoln'.

In 1983 'Gandhi' made its mark on Hollywood. It was an Indo-British production. Thirty years later 'Lincoln' co-produced by Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment brings to life the 14th American president in this gripping drama. And it earns Daniel Day Lewis a fifth Oscar nomination.



