Historians are up in arms against The Rising back home in London, but British actor Toby Stephens admits he was ?shamefully ignorant? about the history of East India Company until he read the script by Farukh Dhondy. The role of Mangal Pandey?s gora friend Captain William Gordon had fallen into Toby?s lap after Hollywood star Hugh Jackman turned it down.

?I think the film has great resonances even today, with America taking over Iraq. The film was educating for us British to see what had happened during the Raj and the East India Company. I did a lot of reading on East India Company?s business ties, the Raj and the end of the Raj. But I concentrated on the military ? especially the day-to-day life of a soldier. William Dalrymple?s books helped me a lot in this. Dalrymple, like Gordon, had an empathy with India,? says Toby, who loves changing roles and switching mediums.

So, after an enriching stint with the Royal Shakespeare Society, he wandered from West End to Broadway, television to Hollywood, and then Hindi films. ?I have managed to swing from one medium to another because I love the freedom to act anywhere. The last thing I want to do is get stuck with one thing.?

At the Royal Shakespeare Society, Toby was the youngest actor to play Shakespeare?s Coriolanus. He was last seen on the Hollywood screen fighting Pierce Brosnan in the Bond big grosser Die Another Day.

?Getting to play a Bond villain was a great break. I grew up watching Bond movies and Bond baddies and suddenly I was part of this enormous venture. Playing a Bond baddie, I was required to do certain things but it was fun. I worked really hard for six months,? says the crazy millionaire Gustav Graves from the Brosnan-Halle Berry starrer.

The jump from Bond to Bollywood ? from fencing with Brosnan to crossing swords with Aamir ? has meant a huge leap of sensibility, but Toby insists he loved the challenge it offered. ?I didn?t have any experience of Bollywood. I only knew that movies in India were more musically-inclined.?

Yet he feels the song-and-dance went along with the narrative of Mangal Pandey. ?Indian film-making has a very different format. A lot of Indian films are based on fantasy. We don?t have an intense film culture in Britain. You people are more passionate about your films and stars.? Before signing on as William Gordon, Toby wanted to see a film by Aamir Khan and was recommended Lagaan. ?Lagaan made Indian films accessible to me, but I find hardcore Hindi films very difficult.?

Though he liked Asutosh Gowariker?s film and Aamir in it, Toby resents the way British actors mouthed their Hindi dialogues. ?It was kind of strange,? he says, having taken extra care of his diction and accent in Mangal Pandey.

?Gordon had a great friendship with Mangal Pandey and I wanted my character to be understood by the Indian audiences. It had to be good enough for them to believe in the friendship.?

While Aamir was at the ?centre of the hurricane? on the sets of Mangal Pandey, Toby enjoyed watching him from a distance. ?I have a huge admiration for Aamir. He knows what makes a good film. And he is a very decent and grounded man,? smiles Toby.