Getting an independent Canadian feature film even started can be quite the process. Charles R. Singh is a successful professional actor. He is also an independent filmmaker who has invested years into getting his first feature film made. It’s quite the journey, and we got into it in this conversation.
HNMAG: Were you born in India?
Charles R. Singh: No, I was born in Fiji.
HNMAG: Oh, Fiji, of Indian descent.
Charles R. Singh: Yes.
HNMAG: How old were you when you came to Canada?
Charles R. Singh: I was just a baby, barely three years old.
HNMAG: Why did your parents move from Fiji to Canada?
Charles R. Singh: In the seventies, a lot of immigrants came here for opportunities and jobs. They thought they would have a better life.
HNMAG: Is life better here than in Fiji?
Charles R. Singh: I’m kind of questioning that now because it’s a tropical paradise. The food in Fiji is delicious, and the people are friendly. My Grandfather was a prominent farmer, who was sad to see us leave. But in the 70’s, my parents wanted to move here for the growth in terms of education and opportunities. If I had stayed there, who knows. It wasn’t really my choice.
HNMAG: What part of Vancouver did your parents move to?
Charles R. Singh: No, I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta.
HNMAG: Were you interested in film and television as a child growing up in Edmonton?
Charles R. Singh: I remember one of the fondest memories was going to the Citadel Theatre with my grade one class. The first stage show I ever saw was a musical that blew me away. The Citadel is one of Canada’s premier theatrical venues. I’d always loved going to the cinema and the theatre. Edmonton’s a big theater town, so they’ve got a lot of stages and a really big fringe festival in the summer.
HNMAG: The Edmonton Fringe is world famous. Were you initially more interested in theatre or film and television as a child?
Charles R. Singh: Growing up, I found escape at the movie theatre and writing in my journal when I wasn’t in school or playing sports or working with my dad in the summers at the plastic plant where he was a manager, so after I finished high school, I studied business, but I already knew I wanted to work in movies and then I was doing one of my courses for a business degree at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). It was an optional leadership course where we had to do a skit with other students. I remember feeling this rush of energy and being in the moment for the first time in front of an audience. That was when I was first bitten by the theatre bug.
HNMAG: Nice.
Charles R. Singh: I said, you know what, they’re making movies in Vancouver. The next year I moved here, and I went to the Gastown Actor’s Studio.
HNMAG: When was that?
Charles R. Singh: It was 1999.
HNMAG: Did it take long to get an agent, join the union, do all the stuff that actors do when first bitten?
Charles R. Singh: Within six months, I booked the first three auditions. A film, a play, and a part on TV by running into a casting director! I remember at that time, the audition was posted in the Georgia Strait. I also booked a part in a play at the Jericho Art Centre.
HNMAG: Which production?
Charles R. Singh: United Players. The Cherry Orchard. Then I auditioned for an independent film, and I got a lead role, where I met an actor who had an agent, and he connected me to his agent. So, to answer your question, right away.
HNMAG: You had a great career as a professional film and TV actor, traveling to the US. After many years, you branched out to writing and producing.
Charles R. Singh: There were great moments and gigs. One of the highlights was a major film in New York, called “The Guru” It was amazing to travel and work in NYC. But after filming, I came back to Canada; I needed to stay close to home, because between the screen-test in LA and filming in New York, we lost our father to cancer…While being back in Alberta, I wrote a short film and decided to move back to Vancouver to produce it. That’s where I met Grace.
HNMAG: Grace Chin, who runs Crazy8s?
Charles R. Singh: Yes. Grace wrote and produced theatre, and I got cast in a lead role in one of her plays when I met her. We did two shows on Granville Island together, and then we kept working together on our own projects and made the short film I’d written.
HNMAG: Great.
Charles R. Singh: And that led to us working on a new current feature film. She’s one of the co-writers. Before that, we made that short film I’d written in Alberta; it’s based on this dream I had to deal with the pressures of being South Asian.
HNMAG: Right.
Charles R. Singh: It’s also about getting married and having a stable career, and it’s called Commitment. It went to a bunch of festivals, and Grace was one of the producers along with Baljit Sangra of Viva Mantra Films.
HNMAG: The National Film Board was involved with that. How did that happen?
Charles R. Singh: I just applied for the filmmaker’s assistance program.
HNMAG: Okay.
Charles R. Singh: I got a grant. We made the film around the time of the Olympics, and I worked at the Olympics to make some extra money just to put the film together. I also did a stunt job on MI4 with Tom Cruise, and that paycheck helped me pay the editor to finish the short film. Grace was working with the Vancouver Asian Film Festival at the time, and it was there that I eventually met Raymond Massey, of Massey Productions. Raymond brought me on to work with him on evaluating projects from South Asia wanting to shoot in BC.
HNMAG: Nice.
Charles R. Singh: Once I started working with Raymond, I traveled to India to the Goa Film Bazaar in 2017 as part of an Indo-Canadian delegation of filmmakers. That experience in India motivated me to write my first feature, called BOLLYCOP.
HNMAG: Mm-hmm. Cool.
Charles R. Singh: Grace is also a writer. When I asked her to help me with BOLLYCOP she encouraged me to write it myself. That push got me to the finish line, and I completed the script.
HNMAG: Was it a musical?
Charles R. Singh: It’s got musical elements. It’s a tightly woven Hollywood formulaic script with the flair and dazzle of Bollywood. Like Rush Hour and Get Shorty. I’m still pitching it, and on my last trip for meetings in Mumbai, I got interest from a major company in doing it as a Hindi film with a major Indian star. So, let’s see where it goes. I’d like to do it as an English film.
HNMAG: Where is it set?
Charles R. Singh: In Vancouver.
HNMAG: Great! That would be amazing.
Charles R. Singh: It’s about a cop that goes undercover as an actor in a Bollywood film shooting in Vancouver to bust a drug ring. I optioned it off to Massey Productions in 2018, and we worked on developing it with Indian partners as an official co-production, but the pandemic sidelined development. The reality is the budget is too high. It won’t get made without a major star attached. So, now we are working on a new project with a modest budget that is doable in Canada.
HNMAG: That’s Sanjay’s Wedding?
Charles R. Singh: Yes. I’m one of the writers and producers and will probably play a supporting role. We have an amazing team on board.
HNMAG: Is that a comedy as well?
Charles R. Singh: It’s a dramedy. Sanjay’s Wedding is a love story between two Indian and Chinese characters, as well as the Indian character’s mother, who doesn’t want her son to marry someone who is outside of their culture. It’s along the lines of My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding. I’ve been pitching it around the world, and universally, people love the story.
HNMAG: That’s also set in Vancouver?
Charles R. Singh: It is. Fingers crossed, we can get this shot next summer.
It’s wonderful when Canadian performers branch out and make movies to tell their own stories. Many people around the world have a limited perception of what Canada is and who we are as Canadians. Canada is made up of many cultures, religions, ethnicities, and nationalities. East Indian and Chinese cultures are two of the largest in Canada. Not only does the world need to see more movies about Canadians, but we need there to be more multicultural representation. We are sure we will have another conversation with Charles R. Singh about Bollycop or Sanjay’s Wedding or both, and we can’t wait!