India & Ireland, film & more
Still some more interviews to come, and write-ups of several films, but here’s a few pictures from the last evening of the New York Indian Film Festival (when Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistaan was the closing film, and then came the awards):
Aseem Chhabra & Nitin Kakkar
Padma Lakshmi
Hansal Mehta & Dr. Biju Kumar with their awards
Alex Eaton & Arjun Mathur
Tell me about Bombay Movie
AM: There’s a film I did called Barah Anna, and Alex (Eaton) was, well, I thought she was just shooting the making of, and three years later I learned that she’s made a documentary film on it. I’m so excited. It gives an insight into the process that goes into making independent film in India, which is not easy at all. So I’m excited to see how she’s captured it. Barah Anna is a special film for me, it’s one of the films that I’ve done that’s closest to my heart, so I’m happy for this film.
And talk a little bit about the other film you’re connected to at NYIFF this year, which is Fireflies…
AM: Fireflies has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. In fact, when Fireflies first came my way, I was going through a very rough emotional, personal patch, and I was in no shape to work at the time. I told Sabal that in our first meeting, and I think that’s exactly why he cast me. And through the film, I wasn’t acting, every day on set I was going through a catharsis honestly, and I think it shows… let’s see what everyone else thinks.
You’ve done some work behind the camera as well…Bunty aur Babli, Rang De Basanti…
AM: I have yeah….. I was doing continuity on Bunty aur Babli….in fact I’ll share something with you…. Dev Makhija whose the director of Oonga was my First AD on that film.
What’s coming up next for you?
AM: Other than Fireflies, I have three other films that are ready. Two of them are independents, so we’ll have to see what festivals they go to and when they release in India. One of them, the more commercial, is called Ankur Arora Murder Case. That releases on June 14th, and it’s produced by Vikram Bhatt, it has me, KayKay Menon. It’s got strong performers, good story, it should be nice.
And the other two?
AM: One is called Couching Tiger Mannu. It’s about a young Delhi boy who discovers couch-surfing, then his only aim in life is to get some white women to come and live in his house. And then there’s a film tentatively called Coffee Bloom, again a fantastic relationship drama, beautiful script, so I’m excited.
And any theater at the moment?
AM: No, no theater, it takes a lot of time and commitment and doesn’t pay enough. I would love to come and do some theater here maybe. I’d love to do a Broadway musical, I’m waving my arms and legs for it.
Monsoon Wedding is coming to Broadway….
AM: Apparently. Mira gave me my break actually in Migration, so I’ve asked her already “When that comes you have to let me audition.”
Note: Bombay Movie screened at NYIFF on May 1st and Fireflies on May 2nd.
Tell me about working on Fireflies
MD: Fireflies was one of those dream projects where literally there was so much synchronicity and so much energy between everyone, from the spot boys – which is what they call them in India – to the actors, and when it ended, my heart broke a little because I didn’t want the experience to end. And I think that will show in how visually beautiful the film is and how sensitive it is in every which way.
And what else do you have coming up?
MD: I’m in a really unique position where I’m not really mainstream, I have no real desire to be a star, so I just wait for the right things and people. Also, as an actor, I think you have very little control over how the film ends up being, so I just want to work with people that I think are worth working with and whose hearts are in the right place, and Sabal’s one of them.
Every role I play I want to be very different from every other role. Next I’m gonna be a “pretty girl” who’s kind of neurotic and crazy, and that’s cool ‘cos I’m not that way in real life, I’m very laid back.
Note: Fireflies screened on May 2nd at this year’s NYIFF. It’s directed by Sabal Shekhawat and stars Monica Dogra, Arjun Mathur and Rahul Khanna.
As everyone and his wife have been mentioning today, this is the centenary of the Bombay film industry, and I thought it was a particularly wonderful (planned) coincidence that this year’s IAAC NY Indian Film Festival featured three documentaries about film-making there.
May 1st saw a paired screening of Bombay Movie, Alexandra Eaton’s heartfelt and eye-opening study of the struggles that indie films face to get made (in this case, Barah Anna) and reach an audience in the Indian film capital amidst all the big studio releases, together with Rudradeep Bhattacharjee’s The Human Factor, a film about the father and two sons of the Lords family, Parsi musicians who collectively worked for four decades on Hindi films.
And May 2nd was the screening of Jaideep Varma’s Baavra Mann, an in-depth and fascinating film about director Sudhir Mishra and his work, but that only half describes it. Aside from the extensive time Varma spent with his subject, where – seemingly – little or nothing was off limits, there are also dozens of other directors, writers and actors who have spoken about Mishra and the Hindi film industry in general.
Now down to the final two days of NYIFF, there are still several films on offer tonight and tomorrow, including the only one from Kerala to make the cut for this year’s festival: Dr. Biju Kumar’s Aakashathinte Niram (Color of Sky) starring Indrajit, Amala Paul and Prithviraj, set in the Andamans, and the closing film Saturday evening, Filmistan.
Happy anniversary to all of us who love Indian films, and thanks and love to everyone who makes them.
As part of the press junket for The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a group of seven of us had a roundtable interview with Riz Ahmed (who plays Changez Khan) and Kate Hudson (who plays his girlfriend, Erica).
On a purely gossipy notes, one could not help but notice that Ms. Hudson was wearing this massive emerald-cut rock.
Riz, did I read correctly somewhere that you were detained for several hours at an airport in the UK when you returned from the Berlin Film Festival a couple of years ago?
RA: I was, yes, you did read that correctly.
Then let me ask you, did you have any concerns coming to the US, and have you had any issues here?
RA: Concerns… I get pulled aside for three and a half hours every time I come here. Not so much the last 3 or 4 times since I got a work visa, but it’s funny, this film nearly fell apart because my US visa was delayed indefinitely. There’s something called sec 221.G which is a blanket security measure American authorities impose on most Muslim males ages 18-50. They check your name against an international database of suspected or known terrorists and associates, and it’s a process that can take up to nine months and we needed to start shooting in a month. So, yeah, it’s something that’s a reality and it’s sad and in my opinion it’s a slightly ham-fisted and counterproductive way of leading an intelligence operation, or managing your borders.
Kate, you said that taking on this role was a no-brainer, could you tell us why?
KH: When I met with Mira I was eight months pregnant and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do the movie because of that, but Mira somehow didn’t know and I walked in and was so excited to talk about the movie and she says “Wow, you’re so pregnant!” And I said “I thought you knew! I just wanted to talk to you, it’s such an interesting script!”
We talked, we fell in love with each other, she just felt very familial to me. I don’t if it’s my mother’s going to India since the ‘70s, I’m just surrounded by my mother’s Indian friends, I just felt like it was meeting a soulmate and I just felt like if it wasn’t this, whatever she would ever want me to do, I would be there to do with her. Fortunately, the movie pushed and I was able to do it.
I had just had Bing, I showed up and it was more than just Mira, it’s when I read it I had to read it two times in a row because there was just so much material and it was so rich in its themes. I really wanted to know how Mira was going to tackle it. It felt like a really brave project. When I heard her talk about using these themes and this political thriller backdrop as a way to tell a story about a young man’s journey in finding himself and human connection and the human spirit and how do you find it and get to that place in your life and being authentic with yourself, and I thought only Mira could tell this story. I’m happy I was able to be a part of it.
What’s she like as a director?
KH: Wonderful, nurturing. Riz likes to say “holistic”. She knows the story she wants to tell and I like talking about Mira and the sense of she’s very sensual in how she brings people together and how she gets the creative juice out of whether it be your DP or her actors. When she knows she has to say something to tell her story, she is adamant about getting what she wants and I think within that, she creates that world where everybody wants to deliver for her. And she’s very passionate, on a daily, hourly, minutes, seconds basis as you can tell if you’ve already spoken to her just now. It’s infectious and you can’t help but go there with her.
For both of you, what stayed with you after shooting the movie was over?
RA: Wow, I mean, there’s a lot that stayed with me. Going to Istanbul was amazing. I’d never been, always wanted to go, and a lot of the film is about trying to get beyond the labels or divisions that we try and put up between people and even different sides of ourselves, and Istanbul is a city that kind of evaporates lots of dichotomies, East and West, secular – religious, it’s a special place. Going there and visiting ancient Roman temples that were turned into grand Byzantine churches and then turned into huge mosques, in the same building. That says something, it has an important energy. So ending this film’s shoot in that city was amazing – it felt really fitting.
KH: For me, it was how exhausted I was by the end of it, emotionally & physically…breastfeeding and handing Bing to Riz, ….. It was funny, I was so into it when I was there I didn’t realize how much I was working.
RA: It was kind of amazing, to be honest. I found it really impressive, you were hardly sleeping, breast-feeding, hand over the baby, “Action!”, burst into tears – you were amazing! (laughs) Like…what the hell – she’s a machine!
KH: When I got home I did say only Mira could – if I had another child – she’s probably the only one to convince me to do that again, because I was tired and it wasn’t even that long of a shoot. But I think it worked because I really was emotional. I had no moment where I had to take time to get there. Between the material I was working with and how closely connected I felt to Erica, and her guilt and her trauma, and the exhaustion that I was feeling somehow connected and made for a good harmonious experience for me to get it out.
Riz, you guys have really good chemistry together. What really struck me was the theme of an inter-racial relationship and how the challenges that there are already in one, then set against the backdrop of 9/11. Could you talk about that and how you portrayed the relationship in the film?
RA: Well, I think the important thing for those characters is they don’t go into it, or at least they don’t go into it consciously thinking of each other as a collection of labels. He doesn’t think “Oh, Upper East Side, comes from money…” and she doesn’t think “Pakistani, Muslim…” I think what emerges down the line is they start realizing maybe there is a hint of exoticism in the attraction and the extent to which that is healthy – just to want to investigate that which is previously unknown to you – and the extent to which is kind of objectifying and turning someone into this kind of fashion accessory or something. I think there is that tension in this relationship, but I don’t think it’s common to all interracial relationships. I think the kind of prevalence and rise of interracial relationships is one of the beaut things about modern cosmopolitan societies and there are many that are totally healthy and just grow and blossom.
Riz, can you talk a bit about the audition process – is that right that you were asked to come to Mira while you were in the recording studio?
RA: I was on my way to the shoot the album cover for MICroscope, my debut album, and at that point I’d already been turned down like, four times, because I kept sending in tapes and Mira just didn’t vibe with them. My agent said “Look, Mira Nair’s in London, go and see her.” And I said ”I’m done with that. There’s no point.” But I went and met her and it’s so different when you’re in the room. We just clicked and it just kinda’ went from there very naturally.”
Riz, any Hindi movies in your future?
RA: I want to work with this new wave of Indian filmmakers and Pakistani filmmakers, not quite Bollywood. I don’t have the dance moves for Bollywood.
Note: After its initial release last Friday in Manhattan and Los Angeles, today The Reluctant Fundamentalist opens across the US in these cinemas:
Camera 3 – San Jose CA
Cinema 100 – White Plains NY
Clairidge – Montclair NJ
Manhasset Cinemas – Manhasset NY
South Coast Village – Costa Mesa CA
Rancho Niguel – Laguna Niguel CA
Garden Cinemas – Norwalk CT
Montgomery Cinema – Rocky Hill NJ
Playhouse – Pasadena CA
Town Center – Encino CA
Bethesda Row – Bethesda MD
Century Centre – Chicago IL
Embarcadero – San Francisco CA
Kendall Square – Cambridge MA
Mayan – Denver CO
Frontenac – St. Louis MO
River Oaks – Houston TX
Ritz 5 – Philadelphia PA
Shattuck – Berkeley CA
Magnolia – Dallas TX
Seven Gables – Seattle WA
Smith Rafael Film Center – San Rafael CA
Uptown – Minneapolis MN
Kew Gardens – Kew Gardens NY
Malverne – Malverne NY
You gotta give it to Deepa Mehta – the director has guts by the truckload.
After having incurred the ire of Hindu conservatives for her film Fire and then again almost a decade later for Water (during the filming of which she had to ditch India and instead shoot in Sri Lanka), she then had the titanium cojones to decide to take on not only a much loved, much lauded novel (which many considered unfilmable, owing to its length and sprawl), but one that was written by a man who himself knew a little something about the ruffling of ideologue feathers. Moreover, Mehta didn’t just buy the rights to Midnight’s Children, she also decided to actively involve author Salman Rushdie, enrolling him to work on the script and narrate the film. For all that alone, she should receive a medal for bravery.
With regard to the film itself, this is the first time in my life, having read the book beforehand, I actually felt at a disadvantage. Going in to the screening years after having once enjoyed Midnight’s Children during a daily 90-minute commute to and from Manhattan, and carrying the pleasure of those memories with me still, when it came time to watch the film adaptation in some two hours plus of screen time, I felt a little like If it’s Tuesday, This Must be Belgium. There’s a lot of ground to cover and only so much time.
It’s not the choices Mehta and Rushdie made as to what to keep and what to omit that I fault, it’s my own memory and awareness of the source material. In fact, the film does manage to encompass Saleem Sinai’s family saga rather comprehensively. Dilip Mehta’s production design, Dolly Ahluwalia’s costumes and Nitin Sawney’s music all work well together to give you a great sense of place and time, as we journey from Kashmir in 1915 to Bombay in the ‘70s.
And what a cast. Mehta has brought together so many big names from the Indian film industries (including those from The South – hurrah!) that in reviewing the press notes and seeing one name on the list I said “Oh, that’s right – she was in this too!”
Mehta has enlisted actors you’re used to seeing in mainstream movies and others who you’d know if you watch a lot of indie flics, and some folks who manage to swim in all rivers. Here’s a sampling: Rajat Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Shahana Goswami, Rahul Bose, Samrat Chakrabarti, Darsheel Safary, Soha Ali Khan, Sarita Choudhury, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Charles Dance and Satya Bhabha.
That’s too many people to write about each, but I’ll mention a few who really stood out for me. Rahul Bose, who was supposedly slated for the role of Saleem Sinai when the film was first in the works about a decade ago, now he’s General Zulfikar, Saleem’s uncle, and looks as though he thoroughly enjoying the role. Darsheel Safary as the young Saleem (so grown up now, compared to his Taare Zameen Par days!) looks like he’s here to stay in films, and do well in them.
Local (NYC) hero, Samrat Chakrabarti is memorable and heart-breaking as Wee Willie Winkie. It was a good call, casting someone with both acting and musical chops for this role.
Another stand-out for me was Siddharth, known primarily for his Tamil & Telugu films, as the adult Shiva, unlikeable tormentor of Saleem yet bad-boy irresistible nonetheless.
And then there’s Satya Bhabha. For me, I never connected to his Saleem. He felt too contemporary for the years we see him live through and I just never managed to feel any great care or concern for Saleem, and that was disappointing, as he is the heart of the story.
Final thoughts
Despite what didn’t work for me in the film, I’d still encourage you to see it. Deepa Mehta’s work is always memorable, so how can you not venture out to see her interpretation of such a great novel?
Midnight’s Children opened in NYC on April 26th, and on May 3rd it opens to NY cinemas beyond Manhattan (Kew Gardens Cinema, Clearview Roslyn 4 and Malverne Cinemas) and as well as to DC (Landmark Cinema) and several in the LA area (Arclight Hollywood and Laemmle’s Royal in Los Angeles, Laemmle’s Playhouse in Pasadena, Regal’s Westpark 8 in Irvine, and Laemmle’s Town center 5 in Encino).
