NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

The Rediff Special/ Nandita Das

'It's like banning a book before it's even written'

My relationship with Deepa is not just of an actor and director, but it is almost a friendship because we have travelled together in film festivals and all that, so it's a continuing relationship.

She also has this habit of involving everyone she is working with right from the start, whether it is the cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, who has worked with her in her previous two films, or A R Rehman who has scored in Fire and Earth too, or as it is with me. I have read the one-liner, I have read the synopsis, every time she would write a scene she would call up, 'Nandita I have written this scene of yours, how do you like it?' so you automatically start feeling it's your film, that's why I like working with her. I don't want to be an actresses who thinks that I just have to do thirty days work.

Deepa takes up issues that are close to my heart, issues which I believe in. They are not regular things, and yet they are part of society. Just to be different in order to be different doesn't interest me. To raise issues that are not raised otherwise and are important is great. Where there are strong women characters, where there are issues that are progressive towards women, that is something that is instinctively interesting to me and maybe that's why Fire, then Earth and now Water.

I also think the script of Water is better than that of Fire and Earth. It was something I was looking forward to and that is why I came 10 days before the start of the shoot; even though actual rehearsals would start on the 23rd I came on the 20th itself, I have been working continuously for the last 4-5 months so I thought this would be a break. Also, I would get used to the short hair, because I have had long hair all my life I have never been adventurous with my hair, I have had just plain dull straight hair all through, so I had to stop feeling my head all the time because I used to keep touching my head. Going to the ghats, going to the widows' home, just soaking in the environment, not just as an actress but even as a person. Because some residue of that comes out as an actress because in that sense I'm not a method actress. I think, okay I will do this mannerism or feel that, because I feel it is a very technical field, with the thermocol here and the microphone there and the lights around you, so how much can you feel as an actress constantly? So it is between 'action' and 'cut' that I shut everything out and try and be that person. So when you soak in everything, certain things get rubbed off as an actress.

The story of Water broadly is about a widows' home, how they deal with their predicament, how they deal with the situation, where they eat only one meal, that too at four in the morning, with their head shaved, and the whole feeling. And their life, which is very pure because in some ways there is a feeling of sanctity about it, so different widows deal with it differently. There is a seven year old widow who is very central to the film, which in fact begins with her coming to the home and how she stirs up things by asking questions in her child-like way, questioning ways which these widows took for granted or took as part of their fate, and what reaction it has on different people.

The role I play is of a widow who is very pure in her own way, she doesn't even question the way. She is a firm believer in God and feels God is going to protect her and get her out of this. Then a man who believes in Gandhiji's ideals falls in love with her and she feels he is another form of God and will protect her. But even with that, she has certain views which come from within. She is the one who is also pushed into prostitution.

But it's not like the whole widows' home is a brothel or something. In fact in the film you don't even see that side of her life. It's just that even though she is pushed into it, her purity is so strong, her faith in God is so strong that she is untouched by all this. It deals at various levels.

The controversy

I think whatever is part of our religion or culture, in fact all works of literature and art have questioned this and one has never said, 'how did we allow this?' Otherwise Achut Kanya, Sujata or Satyajit Ray's Ganashatru would never have been made. So before a film is even made, to oppose it without even knowing the whole truth or the reality I think is totally undemocratic and unthinkable. Even though we knew there were problems we never thought we would be actually stopped from shooting the film, that too by breaking the sets. You know, the people have been here for a month working on the sets.

They can make any allegation but what is the platform for us to refute it? Why should the victims always have to prove their innocence? Why aren't they being questioned for not even knowing the entire truth? I think it's a very strange situation and a reflection of our society. It's just not about Water, it's about us getting used to these things. Every now and then there is some issue that keeps cropping up and we are getting too insensitive, we tolerate this intolerance, which is a very dangerous phenomenon and which is what really scares me about it.

We (Nandita and Shabana Azmi) went to Dr Tiwari the mahantji, who is the head of the Viswanath temple and a very respected figure in the community. And he was totally in support, he was like, 'what are they doing in the name of religion? This is not religion'. In fact I asked him, what does he think was the status of women as it existed? He said it was wrong, it is not how it was written in the Vedas, this is how the interpretation of religion has changed, and we have to evolve, so there is nothing wrong in questioning it. He said, 'I don't know anything about your film, because I may never even watch it, but I know this for sure, our religion advocates how to treat guests, not to treat them like this'. He was at a different level but he definitely opposed whatever has been happening.

I don't understand how can they say why can't she (Deepa Mehta) do this, when you make an allegation you have to be very strong with your facts. In fact this film is also a lot about believers, as I said my character completely believes in God. Ganga has been referred to throughout our film as Gangaji with a lot of reverence, nowhere is it said that this is bad or worse. We cannot be complacent and say everything is right in our country. If they feel this film will depict a bad picture of India in the West, do they think what they are doing will paint a good picture?

At one level we are talking about an open market and that we should allow more investors into our economy and stuff, so what kind of message is going to go to the West? Not only are they going to be shit scared to shoot here, but also what kind of country is this where even before a film is made they are having protests like this! It's like banning a book before it's even written. So I think it is completely ridiculous.

As for the fact and fiction and what is the research that has been done... Deepa has done a lot of research, she has books in Canada where it has been written and factual evidence has been found of widows being forced into prostitution. Today itself in this widows' ashram this man said, 'I don't keep women less than the age of forty because I don't know what would happen'. So it's clear, we all say that prostitution is the oldest profession and we are not trying to say that everybody or each of the widow is into it, or wow, it's about Benares.

But after all, if you are making a statement through a film or not, it's a story and you have to have characters doing certain things in a certain situation. It doesn't mean that in Fire, if these two women turned to each other for compassion all sisters-in-law should do it. Or if your marriage turns bad this is the only solution. It just says this also can happen and if this happens let's not look down on it because it doesn't go down with our kind of conditioning.

Secondly, let's say it wasn't even factual, I'm ready to go to even that level, let us suppose such a thing never did happen. But as a film-maker doesn't she have a right to be creative?

Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest film-makers in the world made Ganashatru which is about a doctor who discovers that the charnaamrit (holy water) in a temple is contaminated. And the entire village goes against him, asking 'Are you trying to say the temple water is unholy?' It is not trying to say all temple water is unholy. We are not trying to say this happens everywhere, we are just saying it's one case. It doesn't even have to be that, a film is just an exploration, a slice of life, a way to provoke our minds to wake up in another way. But let's not be blind to anything, let us question, till you don't question, till you don't debate, you are in a slumber, you can close your eyes and keep walking and nothing around you is true.

But was Ganashatru banned? Was Sati, Aparna Sen's film with Shabana Azmi where she has to marry a tree, banned? We had these kind of rituals in our society, are we not going to question whatever was there 2000 years ago?

It's time we stop being defensive and have the courage to say, 'Look, this is a free country, our Constitution gives us the right, you don't; like it or reject it. But have a way to even reject that. Put forward your point of view, that's great. You are not supposed to like everything. I think this is what is the problem, it's not just about Water, this kind of apathy, this kind of tolerance over such things happening, is what is really dangerous, that a handful of people can come and just stop the shooting. They are even saying we are Christian missionaries who are trying to convert people from Hinduism, so how bizarre can it get!

The stand-off

We cannot hold on now beyond two days, in fact the producer (Ajay Virmani) was ready to pack up the night before last (January 30), when we had a meeting with the entire cast and crew, he said it's not just money, but what if we get stalled? And he's willing to stand by it but the thing is, everyday it costs more and more. We have already put in more than two and a half crore rupees, in getting everybody here, all the raw stock, the equipment, the upkeep, the preparations that have been happening over a month. So he said whatever money has gone he's ready to face that, but now it's almost becoming an issue of the security of all our lives, because Deepa's effigy was burned, we were asked not to go to the ghats, in fact we got to know what's happening at the ghats through TV. But seeing everybody's commitment, because the crew said we are ready to forego our money, we are ready to have it deferred, please just hang on for just three days, he has given us three days. I don't know if it's going to get solved or not, but all of us are optimistic and we feel if our will is strong something is going to happen.

Last resort

Hopefully it will be shifted to a different time and a different place because for Deepa, who has lived with it for so long to shelve completely it would be unthinkable. But even for others who have worked on it, it's been over a year, so it would be a pity, and I personally feel it's her best script. It will really sad if the film's not made.

Join Shabana Azmi on the Rediff Chat, on February 2, at 1900 IST and Nandita Das at 2000 IST

The Water Controversy

The Rediff Specials

Tell us what you think of this feature