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The Toronto Star
May 11, 2005 Wednesday
Mehta risks fury with film
Prithi Yelaja, Toronto Star
Like many Canadians, Deepa Mehta has a foot in two cultures.
What sets the award-winning filmmaker apart is her ability to
translate that bicultural reality into art - often risking fury, as
well as stimulating awareness, in both Canada and India.
It happened with Water, a film she just finished, which explores the
plight of India's widows: Two days into shooting, Hindu
fundamentalist protestors destroyed the movie's sets, forcing her to
move the production from the Indian holy city of Varanasi to Sri
Lanka.
And it might happen again with her next project, a documentary about
immigrant women and domestic abuse - still a taboo subject in some
newcomer communities - which begins shooting in Toronto next week.
Mehta spent yesterday in Brampton doing interviews with two women for
the documentary. The multicultural ensemble involved in the project -
the producer is Argentine, the co-producer Indian and the chief
photographer Armenian - "reflects on what Canada is today, which is
great," she says.
"Canada is really changing," says Mehta, 52. As part of Asian
Heritage Month, Mehta will be giving a free public lecture at the
University of Toronto on the the impact of South Asian Canadians on
the film industry.
"When I came here (in 1973), we were visible minorities. Now
everybody's a visible minority and there's a realization that
Canadians aren't just white.
"If you are from a different culture ... your stories are obviously
going to be different, but they have just as much value as anybody
else's, which is what is so exciting," she says.
"I feel Toronto is home as much as Delhi is."
A trailer from Water, set for release in November, will be shown
tonight. The film is the last in a trilogy that includes Fire (1996)
and Earth (1998).
Fire, about lesbian lovers, sparked riots in India and was
temporarily pulled by censors. Earth, which told the story of the
partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 from a child's point of view,
prompted one well-known Indian actor to label it "melodramatic."
Water, which is set in 1938, sparked the most violently negative
reaction. In February 2000, mobs stormed the set, shutting down
production. Shooting resumed only last year, with a new cast. The
original actors were busy or, in the case of the child protagonist,
had simply grown up.
Mehta says she does not set out to make controversial films, but
rather to explore the place of women in society, "whether it's during
war, or making (sexual) choices that are not condoned by society or
... living by the dictates of religious mores."
And she shrugs off criticism. "With Fire, there were people who felt
lesbians don't exist in India - in fact, there is no word for a
lesbian in Hindi. With Earth, (the criticism stemmed from) how dare
I, as an NRI (non-resident Indian), talk about something that isn't
mine," says Mehta.
Water - so named because the film is set in the widow houses (ashrams
for widows) on the banks of the Ganges River - coincided with the
rise of Hindu fundamentalism five years ago.
The movie "is not an attack on Hinduism," she said.
"But anything that questioned or looked at something that was Hindu
with some skepticism had to be damned."
Many of India's 34 million widows are still forced to live by archaic
religious edicts, she says.
"A Hindu woman is considered to be her husband's half-body when he's
alive, and when he's dead she's considered to be half dead, too ...
They really are relegated to be the pariahs of society."
Sati, the practice of a widow voluntarily or forcibly being burned
alive on her husband's funeral pyre, for example, was banned in 1829,
but endures in some rural areas.
It's still frowned upon for widows, no matter how young, to remarry.
Widows are not allowed to take prominent roles in auspicious
ceremonies - at weddings, for example - because they're considered to
bring bad luck. The practice of requiring widows to shave their heads
and dress in white also persists, though these attitudes are
changing.
Mehta speaks tonight at 7 at the Koffler Institute, 569 Spadina Ave.
May 11, 2005 Wednesday
Mehta risks fury with film
Prithi Yelaja, Toronto Star
Like many Canadians, Deepa Mehta has a foot in two cultures.
What sets the award-winning filmmaker apart is her ability to
translate that bicultural reality into art - often risking fury, as
well as stimulating awareness, in both Canada and India.
It happened with Water, a film she just finished, which explores the
plight of India's widows: Two days into shooting, Hindu
fundamentalist protestors destroyed the movie's sets, forcing her to
move the production from the Indian holy city of Varanasi to Sri
Lanka.
And it might happen again with her next project, a documentary about
immigrant women and domestic abuse - still a taboo subject in some
newcomer communities - which begins shooting in Toronto next week.
Mehta spent yesterday in Brampton doing interviews with two women for
the documentary. The multicultural ensemble involved in the project -
the producer is Argentine, the co-producer Indian and the chief
photographer Armenian - "reflects on what Canada is today, which is
great," she says.
"Canada is really changing," says Mehta, 52. As part of Asian
Heritage Month, Mehta will be giving a free public lecture at the
University of Toronto on the the impact of South Asian Canadians on
the film industry.
"When I came here (in 1973), we were visible minorities. Now
everybody's a visible minority and there's a realization that
Canadians aren't just white.
"If you are from a different culture ... your stories are obviously
going to be different, but they have just as much value as anybody
else's, which is what is so exciting," she says.
"I feel Toronto is home as much as Delhi is."
A trailer from Water, set for release in November, will be shown
tonight. The film is the last in a trilogy that includes Fire (1996)
and Earth (1998).
Fire, about lesbian lovers, sparked riots in India and was
temporarily pulled by censors. Earth, which told the story of the
partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 from a child's point of view,
prompted one well-known Indian actor to label it "melodramatic."
Water, which is set in 1938, sparked the most violently negative
reaction. In February 2000, mobs stormed the set, shutting down
production. Shooting resumed only last year, with a new cast. The
original actors were busy or, in the case of the child protagonist,
had simply grown up.
Mehta says she does not set out to make controversial films, but
rather to explore the place of women in society, "whether it's during
war, or making (sexual) choices that are not condoned by society or
... living by the dictates of religious mores."
And she shrugs off criticism. "With Fire, there were people who felt
lesbians don't exist in India - in fact, there is no word for a
lesbian in Hindi. With Earth, (the criticism stemmed from) how dare
I, as an NRI (non-resident Indian), talk about something that isn't
mine," says Mehta.
Water - so named because the film is set in the widow houses (ashrams
for widows) on the banks of the Ganges River - coincided with the
rise of Hindu fundamentalism five years ago.
The movie "is not an attack on Hinduism," she said.
"But anything that questioned or looked at something that was Hindu
with some skepticism had to be damned."
Many of India's 34 million widows are still forced to live by archaic
religious edicts, she says.
"A Hindu woman is considered to be her husband's half-body when he's
alive, and when he's dead she's considered to be half dead, too ...
They really are relegated to be the pariahs of society."
Sati, the practice of a widow voluntarily or forcibly being burned
alive on her husband's funeral pyre, for example, was banned in 1829,
but endures in some rural areas.
It's still frowned upon for widows, no matter how young, to remarry.
Widows are not allowed to take prominent roles in auspicious
ceremonies - at weddings, for example - because they're considered to
bring bad luck. The practice of requiring widows to shave their heads
and dress in white also persists, though these attitudes are
changing.
Mehta speaks tonight at 7 at the Koffler Institute, 569 Spadina Ave.