Actress Mindy Kaling, who has Indian roots, says it was difficult to learn Hindi for her forthcoming movie "Ocean's 8".
"When I was cast in 'Ocean's 8', I didn't think there would be much prep but I ended up doing more than on any movie I've worked on," Kaling said in a statement to IANS.
"I had to become fluent enough in Hindi that I could speak it with ease in a couple of scenes and that wasn't easy because I don't speak any Indian languages.
"I was raised speaking English only because my parents spoke two different Indian languages, so the only language we all had in common was English. I also shadowed a jeweller so that I could learn how to hold all the instruments of the trade," the actress said.
In the film, Kaling plays Amita, a jewellery maker, who turns a $150 million diamond necklace into seven smaller pieces in the name of a heist.
A sequel to Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's" trilogy, "Ocean's 8" stars Sandra Bullock as ringleader Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney's character Danny.
After getting out of jail, she recruits seven women -- Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina and Helena Bonham Carter -- to help her pull off a jewellery heist at the annual Met Gala in New York.
The Warner Bros Pictures project will release in India on June 22.
