'Heroes' star Sendhil Ramamurthy to appear in Pelham

• Sendhil Ramamurthy's new film%2C %27Brahmin Bulls%2C%27 screens in Pelham Jan. 22%2C followed by a Q%26A
• Ramamurthy may be best known for the role of Mohinder Suresh on NBC's 'Heroes'
• 'I think it's such a beautifully told%2C well-crafted film%2C' Ramamurthy says of 'Brahmin Bulls'
• The film follows an estranged father and son reuniting after many years and trying to reconcile

While the 2008 writer's strike halted production on countless film and television projects, ironically, it actually served as the impetus for Sendhil Ramamurthy's newest film.

"I was on the series when 2008 hit and we had to shut down work," says Ramamurthy, who was playing Mohinder Suresh on NBC's "Heroes" at the time. "We couldn't work for months and months and months, so the script kind of came out of a mutual frustration on our part to do something. I was ostensibly just sitting on my butt waiting for this strike to end so we could go back to work, so we decided to try and put it to some sort of good use."

The film, "Brahmin Bulls," tells the story of an estranged father and son trying to mend their relationship after many years.

"I play the son, Sid, who's a struggling architect who's a little bit rudderless in his life at the moment," says Ramamurthy, who stars in the film and also serves as producer. "My father, Ashok (played by Roshan Seth), shows up unannounced. It's pretty apparent from the get go that these two do not have a good relationship.

"As the film progresses you find out about things that happened in the past and forgiveness that needs to occur that have not yet. It's really a question of these two figuring out a way forward in their relationship"

Ramamurthy will be at The Pelham Picture House on Thursday for a screening and Q&A, but he talked to us first.

This is the first time you've produced a film; what was that experience like?

The director (Mahesh Pailoor) co-wrote the script with his wife (Anu Pradhan). Mahesh came to me with it and we had worked together before on short films so it's a really great working relationship that we had. We always wanted to do a feature, so when this came together, I said, 'Well listen, I want to be involved from the ground up. I want to help with raising the money and helping with distribution and everything.'

It's a huge learning curve, but I thought it was really important for me, as an artist, to kind of expand my role and have more of a say in what was being put out there with my name attached to it. I really wanted to be involved and consulted and to at least have my opinion heard on all aspects of the film, not just the scenes I was involved in as an actor.

ActorJustin Bartha and director of photographyBen Kutchins both work on "Brahmin Bulls" and have also collaborated on Mahesh's short films. What was that dynamic like?

It was a real family. Mahesh and Justin went to NYU together, so we were able to get Justin on board simply because of that and that he liked the script. Ben Kutchins shot both of the shorts we did together and he also went to NYU with Mahesh. I think he was shooting some giant budget Warner Bros. movie in New York. He finished shooting it, got on a plane, came to L.A. and slept on Mahesh's couch for the duration of shooting and shot this film for us. We had no business having somebody that had become as accomplished as Ben has. He did an amazing job.

This being his first feature-length film, how would you say Pailoor handled it?

First of all, getting your first feature made in any capacity is such a huge accomplishment in and of itself. But I think it's such a beautifully told, well-crafted film. The way he shot it, the way he put everything together, to me doesn't feel like a novice filmmaker. I think he has a very assured voice for someone's who's making his feature film debut.

You're an avid tennis player and I know tennis plays a role in the film. How did that come about?

That came from a good old fashioned complaining fest one evening. I had just seen that movie "Wimbledon." It was the only movie I knew of that involved tennis as a central thing. But it was just so painfully obvious that every actor in that movie had never held a racket before and all of a sudden they're in the Wimbledon finals. So I was lamenting really that there's never been a movie that incorporates tennis in a way that I felt was believable. And it was actually a surprise. Mahesh and Anu never told me the tennis was in there —it just appeared in a draft. I was like 'Oh my God, and it really works with the story!' It was a great way to show that conflict, but also a shared passion between the father and son.

This is an independent film with a first time director. Any difficulties during production?

Only like every ten minutes (laughs). It was one of those things where you just showed up to set and were kind of like, 'OK, what is the universe going to throw at us today?' Locations we would have issues with, we would have issues with weather. We shot the whole thing in 20 days in Los Angeles. We had no time for serious mess ups. Any kind of screw ups resulted in scenes being dropped —and it happened. We had to drop several scenes, but I think the beauty of independent film is to fill those gaps. We had to improvise and some of the best little magical moments came from filling in those holes from scenes we had to drop.

I see that "Heroes" will be returning to for a miniseries. Are you involved at all?

I am not. For me, that ship has sailed. That moment in time was one of the most exciting things ever, but I just don't think that, for me, that magic can be recaptured. I'd hate to go and have it be anticlimactic for me because it was such an important time in my life. I have really great memories from it, but for me it wouldn't be the right move to go back.

Twitter: @kev_incredulous

If you go:

What: "Brahmin Bulls" screening and Q&A

Where: Pelham Picture House, 175 Wolfs Lane. 914-738-7337.

When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22

Tickets: $6-$12 at thepicturehouse.org