TV Times

TV Times

Deepa Mehta glad to do another film in Sri Lanka
By Susitha R. Fernando
Deepa Mehta, one of India’s most controversial and taboo-breaking filmmaker of the last two decades was in Sri Lanka to work on her latest film “Water”. Having successfully completed the shooting last week, she left for Canada, where she is based. Although born and bred in India Mrs. Mehta began her filmmaking career once she migrated to Canada in 1973.

She started writing scripts for children’s films before moving into television work as an editor, producer and director. In 1985, she directed Travelling Light, a one-hour television documentary on Dilip Mehta, a world-renowned photographer and in 1987 produced and co-directed the television film Martha, Ruth and Edie. In 1990 Mehta made her feature film debut with Sam and Me, a poignant story set in Canada about a friendship between an Indian immigrant and an elderly Jewish man. The widely acclaimed film was followed in 1994 by Camilla, starring Jessica Tandy an Bridget Fonda.

Mehta’s third feature Fire, produced in 1996, tells the story of two lower middle class Indian women, both trapped in arranged marriages, who form a lesbian relationship. The movie, which is set in contemporary New Delhi, provoked hostile demonstrations by Hindu fundamentalists who attempted to force the government to ban the film. Screenings were stopped in several cities and the film was resubmitted to the Indian censorship board. The Indian censorship board eventually re-released the film.

Earth Mehta’s fifth feature is a moving account of the partition of India in August 1947 into a Muslim-controlled Pakistan and a Hindu dominated India. Sikhs and others- were driven out of their homes. Some reports put the death toll from communalist pogroms and rioting at one million. The most numbers killed were in Punjab, which was spilt in two. Tens of thousands died in weeks of carnage.

Her latest film “Water” too provoked controversy in Uttar Pradesh. Mehta was forced to suspend production after her set was destroyed by Hindu extremists. This film dealt with the plight of impoverished Indian widows was labelled as anti-Hindu. The producers nearly lost $650,000. Mehta had to withdraw from Uttar Pradesh with the government blaming her for civil disorder. When the governments in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh expressed interest in having the film made in their states, the Hindu fundamentalists shifted their approach. First they accused Mehta of plagiarism to blacken her name and destroyed her credibility, then attacked the film script for being not anti-Hindu but “anti-Gandhi”.

TV Times and Entertainments interviewing Deepa Mehta at Colombo Plaza heard her saying many things. Among them were; What did you want to project when you started your career as a film director?

I wanted to do films on people. Before coming to feature films I did documentaries. All my documentaries were about people and about the people that inspired me. They were about what people are and what they do. My first feature ‘Sam and Me’ was about a deep friendship between an elderly man and his servant boy. It showed how friendship can be formed surpassing social and racial barriers. I wanted to do films on vital issues concerning society and about real people. My objective was real life situations and issue oriented themes.

Do you think you were successful in your choice to be a filmmaker?
I guess in fact I am. I don’t know how one measures success. I measure success as the ability to do the next film. So far I have been successful. I have overcome difficulties in direction and production successfully. Directing a film is no easy task.

Why is it difficult? Is it because you are an Indian and a woman filmmaker?
No it is a fact in the field. I am talking about the world. And whether it is a man or a woman it is difficult to be a filmmaker. To be a writer or an actor you have only one type of work but to be a filmmaker is not so. It is a very collaborative medium. Filmmaker has to handle many areas such as filming, lighting, acting, editing, dubbing, music directing and so on and so forth. To do all these you need not only skill but also money.

Did you target the international community in making films?
No, not at all. Even though I was born in India and live in Canada I never targeted particular audience. It is very difficult to do that. You can’t make films separately for a yellow or a red audience.

What do you want to show in your films?
Different things in different films. I am not trying to give messages from my films and I am not a deliverer of messages. For example my film ‘Fire’ was about exploration of women’s rights. And ‘Earth’ was about partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan. I personally felt the issue in this film as my parents had to face the repercussion of partition. And they still do. And my latest is about politics and religion.

There was an allegation that you brought shame on India-via movies portraying Indians as beggars and socially backward, so that you can make a few bucks in the name of art? You have done films for cheap popularity and or is it for commercial benefit? What have you got to say?
This allegation was ridiculous and I find this charge is childish. I am an independent filmmaker and I don’t belong to Hollywood or anywhere else. I make typical art movies. If anybody knows about cinema they know that art films don’t make money.

This type of allegation was there for my favourite filmmaker Satyajith Rai who also was my hero. I could remember once Satyajith Rai was interviewed by beautiful actress Nargis and she concluded that Satyajith’s film should be banned from India because all he did in his films was portraying the poverty in India. I think she did not understand that she was talking about somebody who had lifted the profile of Indian cinema.

With regard to criticism it is very helpful to have criticism. But danger comes when praise and criticism comes together. One day you become a darling when you bring awards and on the next day you could get the opposite of it. And in my view both of these are not true.

What is the story in Water
The main subject in the film is about widows. The story is about three women. The film is about a group of widows who are subjected to the norms of behaviour as laid down by religion. Actually this form of subjectivity is anathema to religion.

What made you to select Sri Lanka as location?
When ‘Water’ was in Benares we got lot of invitations from different parts of India. We also got invitations from other countries like South Africa and Malaysia and I went all over the world. And finally I came across one of my friends, an actor Gulshan Grover who said ‘go to Mr. Chandran Rutnam in Colombo’. I then realised I had reached my goal where location was concerned.

What do you think about our Film Location Services?
It is thoroughly effective. Yeh, of course. I was really impressed with scenes here and it was a wonderful experience we had in Sri Lanka. And I also was really impressed with Mr. Rutnam’s team in Film Location Service. They were real professionals. I know it is not an easy job for them but they lived up to expectation. They empathised perfectly. This type of empathy is rare talent you don’t get anywhere else.

And I also was impressed with the talent in Sri Lanka. I was amazed with the talent of the little girl Sarala from Galle who played the most important role in “Water” whom I picked up accidentally. She is a natural actress and she was wonderful. She had a ‘star’ quality in her. She was one of the brilliant actresses that I have come across during my career. In addition I also was impressed with the talents of Sri Lankan artistes like Iranganie Serasinghe and Buddhi Wickrema with whom I worked.

And on the whole I think I made the right choice by selecting Sri Lanka for my film and I would do anything to do another film in Sri Lanka.

Top