Alexx O’Nell was recently seen in the Bollywood film Roohi and he has also released his third single Twenty Days. Before this Alexx has released two more singles like Still On My Mind and Bhagvad Gita Song. The actor will now be seen in a prominent role in the upcoming Bengali film Golondaaj. The Kolkata Mail correspondent Priyanka Dutta caught up with the talented actor about his stint in acting and singing and his future plans. Excerpts..

Tell us about your role in Golondaaj.

Alexx O’Nell- Golondaaj is an epic battle between Dev Adhikari’s Nagendra Prasad Sarbadakari and my Frederik Jackson, which takes place both on and off the football pitch. As you can see from the teaser it is an incredibly intense clash of two truly larger-than-life personalities.

How did you bag the role in Golondaaj?

Alexx O’Nell-I have renowned director Srijit Mukherji to thank for introducing me to Bengali cinema. Our journey began back in 2017 with ‘Yeti Obhijaan’ which we shot in India and Switzerland, and I could not have asked for a better debut- pitted against Prosenjit Chatterjee and Aryann in a film based on the much-loved characters Kakababu and Santu respectively. In fact, Shrijit invited me to join him once again for a cameo in ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’ (2018), and just a month back we completed a truly unique and captivating shoot for an OTT series to be announced soon.

But behind the scenes, ‘Yeti Obhijaan’ was produced by SVF – the premiere film and series producer in West Bengal, and it was shot by the celebrated DOP Soumik Halder. You’ll notice that in ‘Golondaaj’ I’ve once again teamed up with SVF and Soumik. So, while working with Dev and Dhrubo was a wonderful new experience, meeting much of the team was like reuniting with old friends!

That’s the way I get cast for most of my films, I get a call from someone I’ve worked with, or whose seen my work, and we discuss the project at hand. I remember vividly when the call came regarding ‘Golondaaj’- I was grocery shopping in Amsterdam and after the first conversation in which we discussed that it was football-based (my favorite sport), with Soumik once again as DOP, but also with Dev and Dhrubo, I was so excited I was nearly dancing in the vegetable isle HAHAHA!

How was the experience of shooting for a Bengali film?

Alexx O’Nell-West Bengal and Kolkata in particular, has always held a special place in my heart ever since shooting ‘Chittagong’ there in 2010, and ‘Bose Dead/Alive’ in 2016, both in Hindi / English. And then, of course, having worked there subsequently for 3 Bengali projects as well.

So while I always look forward to shooting in West Bengal, and shooting in Bengali films, that’s not something really new for me. What was different about shooting this Bengali film, however, was, simply put, the grand scale. A project like this, based on a team sport like football that has 11 players per side, and hundreds of spectators, means that the cast list for the football sequences alone was quite long.

And then, of course, there are all the characters and locations that don’t deal directly with football… you can see what I’m getting at – ‘Golondaaj’ is a huge production with dozens of amazing professionals behind the scenes to support a massive effort in front of the camera.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed making something like this, and I don’t think any team other than Dhrubo’s, including Soumik, Assoc Director Ivy, Joy, and so many others could have pulled it off.

How much has the pandemic affected you as an artist?

Alexx O’Nell- I am not a naturally positive person and I often have a hard time moving forward with something when circumstances aren’t perfect.

I’ve found that I need to tell myself every day to do what I can, right now, with what I have at hand. So while my acting career was put on hold by Covid-19, thankfully as a Singer-Songwriter much of what I need to compose and even to virtually perform and promote my music, was still right there at my fingertips: Guitar, Microphone, Laptop, and the Internet.

For my music, what I honestly needed most was time – something I wasn’t getting for the past 10 years or so that I was trying to balance it with my acting. Over the decade, acting simply took priority, and that meant as much as I wanted to, and as much as I tried, I just couldn’t get my music out there. In that sense, the pandemic, and the cessation of shooting that has now happened for the second time as a result of it, has meant that I finally had the break I needed, not just to do what needed to be done to get my music career started, but before that, to learn what I needed to know. As an independent musician, there is a massive amount one must learn, and it seems the learning never ends!

How did the idea of Twenty Days come to you?

Alexx O’Nell– In short: I was sitting in my room, strumming chords, obsessing over what would happen when I finally met the girl I was in love with at the time, after almost a year apart.

‘Twenty Days’ is a page torn from my diary, though… I don’t actually write a diary, I write music instead. That is the only way I know how to compose, I sit down with my thoughts, my guitar, and a notebook and I dwell on what I’m feeling. Out of that negative or mixed emotion, I create something positive. In this case, ‘Twenty Days’ is a bit unique in that it is neither about the past, nor the present, but about a decision that would lead to either of two possible futures: Should I tell her I love her, or not. And in the song, I’m playing out the possible outcomes of my decision. I think it’s a situation to which most people who have truly been in love can relate.

You have acted in Bollywood films and you have now acted in a Bengali film. What difference or similarity did you find between the two industries?

Alexx O’Nell– At the end of the day, it’s all film making-it’s all storytelling. And since the best films are more ‘show than tell’, they naturally transcend language. So, to me, the process of acting in all the industries in which I’ve been privileged to work from Bollywood, to Non-Bollywood Hindi Cinema, Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, to Tamil, and of course English, is fundamentally the same.

You act and you are also a singer. How do you balance them both?

Alexx O’Nell-I am the sole decision-maker with regards to my music and I either work solo, one-on-one or with small groups in each stage of the music process. Therefore, I find the only option is to work my music around my acting commitments since those schedules depend on the availabilities of between dozens and hundreds of other artists and technicians.

So, while I’m traveling I always carry a guitar for composing, I’ll often be coordinating with my editor in Mumbai about the video, the mixer and master in the UK about the audio, friends I want to collaborate with on future songs, etc… But when it comes time to release a song and music video, I make a point to block a couple of weeks. Each of my songs is incredibly important to me, and I like to give each the time it needs to properly attend to interviews and live virtual performances, and most important of all, respond to listeners/viewers’ reactions. I personally reply to Each And Every comment posted to my YouTube channel AlexxONellMusic !!

What do you enjoy more- acting or singing?

Alexx O’Nell– Acting and making music are just so completely different for me that it is impossible to say I enjoy one more or less than the other – it is like asking a parent to choose which of their children is their favorite …Though, I know full-well that I am my mom’s favorite…

Seriously though, I know it’s cliché to say that I love them equally, but I honestly do.

They’re truly worlds apart: While in films and series I’m giving life to characters created in coordination with my writers and directors, with my music I’m sharing very personal thoughts, experiences, and emotions from my own life.

What are your upcoming film projects?

Alexx O’Nell-There is a few films that I agreed to primarily because they featured cast or crew I’ve been wanting to work with:

Chehre (Hindi)       – Cameo with Emraan Hashmi Directed by Rumi Jaffery

RRR  (Telugu)                – Cameo with Alia Bhatt

Bhoot Police(Hindi)- Cameo directed by Pavan Kripalani

And then there are a bunch of films that feature me in Main and Supporting roles for the 2021 release including:

          Golondaaj (Bengali)

          Rani Rani Rani (Hindi)

          Hoichoi Original Series (Bengali)

          Amazon Prime Original Series (Hindi)

 And then more meaningful roles for 2022:

          The Battle of Bhima Koreagaon (Hindi)

          Amazon Prime Original Series (Multi-Lingual)

Do we get to see you in more Bengali films?

Alexx O’Nell-Well, If I have anything to say about it, then YES YES YES!!!!

It all depends on Bengali writers, directors, and producers continuing to include me in their projects, and of course, Bengali audiences appreciating my work.

So PLEASE support ‘Golondaaj’ and my soon-to-be-announced Hoichoi series, because I want to spend more and more time in West Bengal!!

What are your next music projects?

Alexx O’Nell-Still On My Mind, Twenty Days, and my next song are a sort of trilogy.

Not in that they’re consecutive, or written about the same people, or in any way similar, but because they’re so different. On the surface, they are examples of how I write in terms of running time, being Standard, Long, and Short respectively. But more significantly, they are each an introduction to one of my three musical personalities. Still On My Mind is my Soft Acoustic Personality, Twenty Days is my Soaring Symphonic Personality, and my next is my Rock & Roll Personality featuring thundering drums, distorted electric guitar, and more angsty lyrics – still poetic, but sarcastic and disingenuous.

As an actor, I’ve taken great pains to not be typecast, and similarly, as a musician, I want to keep showing my audience something different. I sincerely hope you’ll keep watching and listening!

We sincerely hope that Alexx continues to do such great work and keeps the audiences engaged.