CINEMA
The India flavour was unmistakable in TIFF '08
By V. Radhika/Toronto
Distant Mumbai created a lot of buzz at the recent Toronto
International Film Festival. Acclaimed British director
Danny Boyle's SlumDog Millionaire, shot in Mumbai with an
Indian cast, won the People's Choice award at the festival.
Based on Vikas Swarup's book Q & A, SlumDog starts on the
sets of an Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire
with Anil Kapoor hosting the show. Protagonist Dev Patel, a
London-born actor, is in the hot seat and one question away
from the prize. But Patel is picked up by the police for
investigation, as doubts arise about how a street kid could
know the answers.
Boyle, who directed box-office hits like 28 Days Later and
Trainspotting, says by the time he got to page 15 of the
SlumDog script by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, he was hooked.
"I love the underdog idea," says the director who selected
an all-Indian cast for the film, except the lead because he
could not find the right 'loser'.
"We just couldn't find anybody," says Boyle. The boys he
auditioned for the role had gym-toned bodies and "just
didn't have the feel of being a loser". He finally found the
loser in Dev Patel. "Here is a young man you can root for,
believe in and belong to as he chases this dream," says
Boyle, whose only acquaintance with India was through the
stories he had heard from his soldier-father.
SlumDog was among 249 full-length and 63 short features,
which were screened at the 10-day festival. It was one of
the two films directed by westerners, but set in India. The
other was Yes Madam, Sir, a documentary feature on Kiran
Bedi, India's first woman IPS officer. The film was directed
by Megan Doneman, who spent eight years on the
project-saving enough money from her day jobs in the film
industry to come to India and shoot the documentary herself.
She says her fascination for Bedi began as a 13-year-old
when she first read about Bedi's experiments in the Tihar
jail. She first met Bedi in 1999 with apprehension as the
controversial officer had turned down many such offers. But
to Doneman's surprise, Bedi said 'yes' and opened her life
and doors to the filmmaker from Australia. Bedi says her
decision to go with Doneman was instinctive and guided by
the belief that the filmmaker was honest.
The documentary is engaging and, to the filmmaker's credit,
it is not an exercise in sycophancy. It highlights Bedi's
professional achievements, but also gives space to her
critics. It is perhaps the first time that Bedi's daughter
Saina has appeared before the camera as it captures the
complex mother-daughter relationship. Apart from the
hardships she endured as a western woman filming in India,
Doneman struggled to raise finances as well. But eight years
later, as the film made it to TIFF, there is a sense of déjà
vu. "I sensed a great story and felt that it should be
told," she says.
Indo-Canadian Deepa Mehta, whose first film Sam and Me was
screened at the festival in 1991, returned this year with
her latest, Heaven on Earth, that had Preity Zinta essaying
the role of a battered wife with gravitas. Zinta, who was in
Toronto last year with Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear, said
it "was the toughest role of her career". The challenge was
not restricted to portraying an intense character but also
in delivering dialogues in Punjabi.
At an event organised during the festival, Zinta said she
hoped her star power would provide a wider profile to the
film. "Through this film I can touch a lot of lives," she
said. "Sometimes I think of abused women, who are locked up
in their rooms but are able to watch this film on DVD. I
hope they will then get the courage to do something about
their abused condition."
The Indian panorama included Nandita Das's directorial debut
Firaaq, Priyadarshan's Kanchivaram and the Akshay Kumar-starrer
Singh is Kinng. The inclusion of Kinng, which is playing in
theatres as a gala (a film that is accorded red carpet
status), was obviously with an eye on Akshay's soaring
popularity in North America.
Festival co-director Cameron Bailey says showing a film that
is already playing in theatres is done with a view to
building bridges between the audience that already knows the
film and the regular festival audience that may not be
familiar with this work.
However, he says, "It is not something we will do very
often. It is a bit of a special circumstance because this
film [Kinng] has done very well and is a kind of ambassador
for Bollywood cinema. This was an example we wanted to
introduce."
However, while galas draw the crowds, glamour and moolah,
the real gems continue to be films in other categories.
Firaaq, set in the aftermath of 2002 communal riots in
Gujarat, takes a peek into the lives of those affected and
the emotional journeys they embark on or are hurtled into.
Says Das: "It is a work of fiction, but is based on true
stories. It traces the emotional journeys of ordinary
people. Some are victims, some are perpetrators and some who
choose to watch silently. It is through their journeys that
we experience the impact of violence and desire peace." Das,
who has been a regular at the TIFF, says directing is more
challenging and fulfilling and also far more stressful.
For Firaaq, where she collaborated on the story with New
Zealand-based screenwriter Shuchi Kothari, Das "chose an
ensemble structure because in mass violence, there are no
individual heroes or villains". "Yet in the midst of all
this madness, some find it in their hearts to sing hopeful
songs of better times," she says.
It is a debut of a different kind for Priyadarshan, director
of slapstick comedies like Hera Pheri and Malaamal Weekly.
His attempt at realistic cinema with Kanchivaram has secured
him a spot in the festival. The movie portrays the plight of
silk weavers who can't afford to buy a sari. "I make
commercial cinema from my head. I have made Kanchivaram from
my heart," he says.
While it is true that TIFF has embraced Hollywood and
commercial films and Toronto is soaked in star shower, the
festival retains its strong flavour of avant-garde cinema.
That is what appeals to filmmakers and cine enthusiasts
alike.
What also sets TIFF apart from other festivals is original
and decentralised programming. Every TIFF programmer is
mandated to travel to the countries that they select films
from and their selections are final.
Though unstated, TIFF pitches itself as an Oscar pitch
venue. Many films have gone on from TIFF premieres to Oscar
contenders, including Hotel Rwanda, Water and Juno. In two
years, the festival action is expected to move to Bell Light
Box, a complex being built for year-round programming by the
TIFF group.
