‘Patti Cake$' Star Siddharth Dhananjay Has Visa Problems, Too

The Indian-born actor is on the brink of breakout success but things aren’t easy when you’re an immigrant from a third-world country

- Urvija Banerji

LAST MONTH, SIDDHARTH DHANANJAY, THE INDIAN-BORN, Los Angeles-based actor made his first trip to Europe. Dhananjay, who stars alongside fellow newcomer Danielle Macdonald in the upcoming feature Patti Cake$, flew to Cannes, France, to promote the film at the Director’s Fortnight associated with the city’s eponymous film festival.

“I had to go get a Schengen visa; I’ve never done that before. It’s just crazy complications if I have to go anywhere or visit a place,” says Dhananjay, who grew up in Jakarta but still holds an Indian passport. “It’s not worth it to do all of that to go anywhere. It’s crazy to think that if you’re a different passport [holder] you can just like, freely roam the earth,” he laughs.

Though perhaps not freely, Dhananjay has indeed roamed the earth on his Indian passport. When he was three years old, his father accepted a job in Jakarta and Dhananjay’s family relocated there from Trivandrum, where he was born. Dhananjay went through the international school system in Indonesia, but attended the prestigious Bengaluru boarding school Rishi Valley for four years before returning to Jakarta for high school.

Consequently, Dhananjay speaks with what you could call an “international school” accent—that is to say, an American accent with occasional Indian pronunciations and Britishisms. Though he’s speaking over Skype with a nondescript bedroom background behind him, the discrepancies in his accent are still jarring when you situate him in New York City, where he’s spending the week to re-record music for the Patti Cake$ soundtrack.