Lush locale captivates 'L&O' actor

Actors can be compensated with more than money and renown. The rigors they endure on demanding location shoots are more than balanced by the privilege of traveling to some of the planet's most exotic and intriguing places.

For director Santosh Sivan's melancholy, lyrically told "Before the Rains," a drama set against India's emergent independence movement of the 1930s, cast and crew convened in the extraordinarily lush, captivating region of Kerala, the filmmaker's home state.

Linus Roache, who navigates the film's lead role, regards it as one of the most beautiful places he has ever seen. The actor also says Sivan's artistry in capturing it is no less remarkable.

"He really is quite an extraordinary director, and quite the phenomenon in India as well," says Roache, a stage, screen and TV star who spoke to The Post and Courier from his home in New York. "Santosh has won the equivalent of 12 or 13 Oscars in India. On this film, he not only directed, but was the cinematographer and the camera operator. That's three very complex roles to play."

Sivan had more in mind than sumptuous imagery. Shot through with metaphors, "Before the Rains" is concerned with the clash of cultures, moral dilemmas and how hubris can have the most tragic consequences.

"The film is very rich metaphorically," adds Roache, currently on hiatus from his role in NBC's "Law & Order." "It's all conscious and not haphazard. Santosh has this capacity to build a world within a world, which is what made me want to do the picture."

"Rains" opens in southern India in 1937, where Englishman Henry Moores (Roache) is applying himself and his East Indian workers to the arduous task of completing a vital mountain road before the monsoon season. Moores is by no means a harsh taskmaster, but the goal is all-consuming, so much so that it blinds him to an increasingly militant nationalist movement that threatens completion of a potentially lucrative project.

In the end, Moores serves as Sivan's symbol for all those good Englishmen whose shortcomings of character were tested in the crucible of Empire.

"That basically encapsulates him," says Roache, best known for such features as "The Wings of the Dove" and "Priest." "He is not paying attention to what is going on around him or thinking through the consequences of his actions. He is a spirited and adventurous man, in love with India, in love with his wife (two-time Tony Award winner Jennifer Ehle) and son, but also in love with his Indian housekeeper (Nandita Das). He wants to have it all."

When the housekeeper, Sajani, is turned out upon the return of Moores' family, and in her anguish commits suicide, Moores, who hides her body, is not alone in his moral quandary. So, too, is his foreman and friend, T.K. (Rahul Bose). Privy to, and horrified by, the affair between Moores and Sajani, T.K. is torn between his loyalty to Moores, his ambitions for the future of his land and his fealty to tradition.

"Moores is a deeply flawed, but human and understandable man," says Roache. "You are watching someone selling their soul bit by bit, something terrifying to see happen. You find yourself asking, 'What would I do?' That's what makes for drama, sitting on a powder keg in the hot sun, knowing it's going to blow. How do you deal with it?"

A performer since childhood, Roache is a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. He made waves internationally in the title role of the aforementioned "Priest," which appeared to acclaim and controversy in 1994. Most recently, his features and made-for-cable films have included "Yonkers Joe," Mira Nair's "The Namesake," "Find Me Guilty" and "Batman Begins."

"Rains," arguably a high-water mark in his career, suggests that certain cultural chasms cannot be bridged, at least not without the gravest difficulty.

"That's really what the movie is about, this clash of cultures, and the emergence of the new as the nation moves toward a modern India. Even though it's set in 1937, in many places around the world, they are still dealing with this issue."

"Rains" was inspired by "Red Roofs," a 50-minute Israeli film that was a segment of "The Desert Trilogy: Yellow Asphalt" by Dany Verete. It was recast and reimagined by Sivan, here making his English-language debut, and screenwriter Cathy Rabin, who died shortly after shooting was wrapped.

"It was a collaborative effort on the script, but she originated it," says Roache, son of British actors William Roache and Anna Cropper. "A lot of care and attention was given to the whole process, from the producer who initiated it to everyone involved. They really nurtured it. There was great integrity in the whole process, and I think it shows in the product. It leaves people with something, which is so satisfying."