Hugh Grant revealed surprising Indian roots and reflected on his first visit to Kolkata, sharing anecdotes from filming La Nuit Bengali, his cultural experiences, and memories of working with legendary filmmakers
Hugh Grant, the celebrated British actor known for classics such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually, surprised audiences at the 23rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit with an unexpected personal revelation. At 65, he suggested that his family history might be far more connected to the Indian subcontinent than previously understood — even hinting that he could be “half Indian.”
Grant explained that his father, who served in the Army, had been born in the northern part of undivided India. He said he had tried to trace the birth certificate but discovered that the birthplace was now an obscure town whose borders fall somewhere between present-day India and Pakistan. Because of this, he joked that the geography of his father’s birth technically gave him partial Indian roots.
Reflecting on his first visit to India during the shooting of the French drama La Nuit Bengali in 1988, the actor recalled being warned about the overwhelming culture shock of Kolkata. He admitted that the city initially did feel intense, but over time he developed a deep fondness for it. Although the film itself barely saw a theatrical release, he remembered his stay as a wonderfully enriching experience.
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Grant shared one of his favourite memories from that trip — an amusing encounter with a young driver named Bishu. He remembered being surprised at how young the boy looked and had questioned his ability to drive. Within a few weeks, the teenager crashed the car and lost the job. Later, Grant bumped into him on a Kolkata street and was amused to learn that the boy had since taken up driving a school bus.
During that period in Kolkata, Grant also found himself unexpectedly drifting into the city’s elite social circles. While the French crew embraced a completely local lifestyle, he ended up attending polo matches, cocktail evenings, and events at places like the Tollygunge Club. He recalled meeting personalities such as Moon Moon Sen and described those days as surprisingly magical.
Hugh Grant On His Indian Roots
Speaking about La Nuit Bengali, he mentioned that the movie was based on Mircea Eliade’s semi-autobiographical novel and set in 1930s Calcutta. Grant played a young European engineer opposite Supriya Pathak, with Shabana Azmi and Soumitra Chatterjee in prominent roles.
Although he admitted that he hasn’t watched much mainstream Indian cinema, Grant expressed great admiration for Satyajit Ray, whose studio the team had used while filming. He also reflected on his earlier experience working with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant on Maurice in 1987. Grant recalled how the duo created remarkable films despite their modest budgets, occasionally running out of funds, borrowing his mother’s car, or even cooking for the cast to keep production going. He remembered them as an extraordinary creative pair whom everyone loved working with — even if their methods sometimes caught people off guard.
