robotic
10-17-2005, 06:31 PM
a thread for deepa mehta and her revolutionary films =)
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030913/wd2.jpg
Canadian-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta was born in Amritsar, India in 1949. She received a bachelors and masters degree in philosophy from the University of New Delhi, where she met her husband, Canadian filmmaker and producer Paul Saltzman. Shortly after getting married, she immigrated to Canada in 1973. However, the marriage was short lived, and they divorced. She has one daughter, Devyani, of whom Mehta says: "I really admire her. She is proud and satisfied of being who she is. That is something lovely about her and possibly nurtured by her father and mother's absolutely crazy life"(Ramchandani).
Because her father was a film distributor and theater owner, Mehta grew up on movies. After school she would go there with friends and watch movies for free, yet she did not realize she had a serious interest in films until after finishing her education: "By the time I was in university I knew I wanted to have nothing to do with film! I had been saturated with itÖI was going to do my dissertation for my PhD, and I met a friend who said they needed someone to work part time in a place called Cinematic Workshop, a small place that made documentary film in Delhi. I learned how to do sound first, and then I learned camera work; I leaned to edit and then finally I made my own documentary and discovered how much I loved it" (Craughwell F10).
Being raised in India yet living in Canada, Mehta felt confused about her identity for a long time: "I've never felt Canadian. I used to be upset about being called an invisible minority, that's what they called coloured people there. I used to come to India and was called an NRI [Non Resident Indian] here. The problem was not about belonging anywhere; it was a dislike for labels. Now I feel very happy being who I am, Deepa Mehta" (Ramchandani). Mehta views herself as a kind of cultural hybrid. Quoting a character from Salman Rushdie's collection of stories East, West who is asked whether he is British or Indian, Mehta says, " 'I refuse to choose.' That's how I feel. I refuse to choose. I spend about half of each year in each country. My daughter is a Canadian. I'm an immigrant here, and I wouldn't stay exclusively in either place" (Lacey C8).
Mehta's main point in making films is to challenge blind tradition in India: "It was important to set it [the films] in India because the story is happening there. It is a microcosm of India, the challenging of traditions. I seriously wanted to break the stereotypes of India, the 'exotic' India of the Raj and the princes and the mysticism. Exotic India doesn't really exist" (Kirkland 11/24/97).
{IMDB profile (http://imdb.com/name/nm0576548/)}
trailer of 2005 film, water (http://water.mahiram.com/trailers.html) (last in elemental trilogy, after fire and earth)
summary of water:
Chuyia (Sarala) is a young girl who has just lost her husband. She is deposited in the house of Hindu widows (an ashram) to spend the rest of her life in renunciation. There are 14 women who live in the house for Hindu widows, a small, dilapidated two-storey house built around a central courtyard. The women are sent here to expiate bad karma, but more often than not, to relieve their families of financial and emotional burden. The ashram is ruled by Madhumati, a pompous lady in her 70s. Her only friend is the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), a sprightly hijra (eunuch) and also a hermaphrodite, who not only keeps Madhumati supplied with ganja, but also with the latest gossip. The two also have a side business; Gulabi helps Madhumati to prostitute Kalyani (Lisa Ray). Kalyani is breathtaking, and the only widow whose hair - as a nod to her profession - is not sheen. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is perhaps the most enigmatic of the widows. She is good-looking enough, a sharp, dark person with secret black-brown eyes. Her generous mouth has an anger set to it. Even Madhumati leaves her alone. Quiet and reserved, Shakuntala is caught between her hatred of being a widow and her fear of not being one. Shakuntala is a very devout Hindu who seeks the counsel of Sadananda (Khulbushan Kharbanda), a gentle-looking priest in his late forties who recites the scriptures to the pilgrims who throng the ghats of the holy city. Chuyia is convinced that her mother will come to take her away. With that thought firmly tucked in her mind, she quickly adapts to her new life with the unique resilience of children. Chiuya sternly initiates her into widowhood, until she meets Narayan.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030913/wd2.jpg
Canadian-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta was born in Amritsar, India in 1949. She received a bachelors and masters degree in philosophy from the University of New Delhi, where she met her husband, Canadian filmmaker and producer Paul Saltzman. Shortly after getting married, she immigrated to Canada in 1973. However, the marriage was short lived, and they divorced. She has one daughter, Devyani, of whom Mehta says: "I really admire her. She is proud and satisfied of being who she is. That is something lovely about her and possibly nurtured by her father and mother's absolutely crazy life"(Ramchandani).
Because her father was a film distributor and theater owner, Mehta grew up on movies. After school she would go there with friends and watch movies for free, yet she did not realize she had a serious interest in films until after finishing her education: "By the time I was in university I knew I wanted to have nothing to do with film! I had been saturated with itÖI was going to do my dissertation for my PhD, and I met a friend who said they needed someone to work part time in a place called Cinematic Workshop, a small place that made documentary film in Delhi. I learned how to do sound first, and then I learned camera work; I leaned to edit and then finally I made my own documentary and discovered how much I loved it" (Craughwell F10).
Being raised in India yet living in Canada, Mehta felt confused about her identity for a long time: "I've never felt Canadian. I used to be upset about being called an invisible minority, that's what they called coloured people there. I used to come to India and was called an NRI [Non Resident Indian] here. The problem was not about belonging anywhere; it was a dislike for labels. Now I feel very happy being who I am, Deepa Mehta" (Ramchandani). Mehta views herself as a kind of cultural hybrid. Quoting a character from Salman Rushdie's collection of stories East, West who is asked whether he is British or Indian, Mehta says, " 'I refuse to choose.' That's how I feel. I refuse to choose. I spend about half of each year in each country. My daughter is a Canadian. I'm an immigrant here, and I wouldn't stay exclusively in either place" (Lacey C8).
Mehta's main point in making films is to challenge blind tradition in India: "It was important to set it [the films] in India because the story is happening there. It is a microcosm of India, the challenging of traditions. I seriously wanted to break the stereotypes of India, the 'exotic' India of the Raj and the princes and the mysticism. Exotic India doesn't really exist" (Kirkland 11/24/97).
{IMDB profile (http://imdb.com/name/nm0576548/)}
trailer of 2005 film, water (http://water.mahiram.com/trailers.html) (last in elemental trilogy, after fire and earth)
summary of water:
Chuyia (Sarala) is a young girl who has just lost her husband. She is deposited in the house of Hindu widows (an ashram) to spend the rest of her life in renunciation. There are 14 women who live in the house for Hindu widows, a small, dilapidated two-storey house built around a central courtyard. The women are sent here to expiate bad karma, but more often than not, to relieve their families of financial and emotional burden. The ashram is ruled by Madhumati, a pompous lady in her 70s. Her only friend is the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), a sprightly hijra (eunuch) and also a hermaphrodite, who not only keeps Madhumati supplied with ganja, but also with the latest gossip. The two also have a side business; Gulabi helps Madhumati to prostitute Kalyani (Lisa Ray). Kalyani is breathtaking, and the only widow whose hair - as a nod to her profession - is not sheen. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is perhaps the most enigmatic of the widows. She is good-looking enough, a sharp, dark person with secret black-brown eyes. Her generous mouth has an anger set to it. Even Madhumati leaves her alone. Quiet and reserved, Shakuntala is caught between her hatred of being a widow and her fear of not being one. Shakuntala is a very devout Hindu who seeks the counsel of Sadananda (Khulbushan Kharbanda), a gentle-looking priest in his late forties who recites the scriptures to the pilgrims who throng the ghats of the holy city. Chuyia is convinced that her mother will come to take her away. With that thought firmly tucked in her mind, she quickly adapts to her new life with the unique resilience of children. Chiuya sternly initiates her into widowhood, until she meets Narayan.