I found it terribly jarring that the actress who played Melanie had such a strong South Indian - as opposed to Bengali - accent. Everyone else in the cast was Bengali (except of course the Sikh guard), so why this anomaly?
shareYES! I noticed that too! She was quite wooden also, not emotive. She delivered all her dialogues totally stone faced.
shareI presume that Renoir needed a young Indian actress who a) was trained in classical Indian dance b) spoke English c) would be credible as a mixed-caste girl recently returned from a boarding school. That might have narrowed down his choices considerably. Radha (the actress) was born in Adyar.
shareYeah but she was also a terrible bharatnatyam dancer. Bharatnatyam dancers are graceful and expressive. Her dance was as a crude as can be. Anyway, what are you gonna do... 1951
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