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the-south-asian.com October 2004 |
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October
2004 Heritage
Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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Gurinder Chadha by Avinash kalla
After bending it like Beckham, filmmaker Gurinder Chadha is all set to showcase to the world what Indian cinema is all about with Bride And Prejudice… After bending audiences to ticket counters and registering a whopping $ 75 million at the box office with Bend It Like Beckham, the Kenya-born globally-acknowledged Indian filmmaker seems all set to put Indian cinema on the world stage again with Bride and Prejudice. "The film’s biggest USP is that it is my film," says the visibly elated director. " Yes, the film is inspired by the Jane Austin classic Pride And Prejudice but from the Indian point of view my film title is more appropriate. It has something to do both with pride and bride," says Chadha a former BBC correspondent and documentary maker. " I am an unabashed admirer of Jane Austin and her Pride And Prejudice is still relevant especially in the Indian context. Most of the characters in the book could be Indians. Being a Punjabi living in London’s Southhall area, I can say with confidence that the movie will appeal to all communities." Chadha who has carved a niche for herself in a smorgasbord of global cinema directors, is confident of surpassing the record set by Bend It Like Beckham. More so, she is fervently hoping the film impacts Americans who " are hardly aware that India has one of the most vibrant film industries in the world. For them Hollywood is the ultimate. It’s about time someone shattered this myth," says Chadha. Till Beckham became the sleeper hit of the year, films made by Asians living abroad seldom created ripples at the box-office in India. That, says Chadha, " is primarily because overseas Indians have common problems, common aspirations, common jokes and a kind of a common culture and language. Mainstream Indians in India cannot relate to these. But now with the people travelling more frequently all these things are changing and even Indians are whole-heartedly supporting my kind of films." So, being an Indian settled in England did not mean that she would keep repeating the theme concerning Asians marginalized in western cultures. That’s when she started exploring a Mumbai kind of a potboiler with a Hollywood studio to be made in English. And the result is Bride And Prejudice.
It has a Bollywood flavour where a rich snobbish British boy loses his heart to a stunning Indian beauty played by Aishwariya Rai. Sounds familiar? Yes, it does, says Chadha and adds, " I have juxtaposed Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Jane Austin’s Pride And Prejudice, to Lalita Bakshi a ravishing Indian beauty with brains to match." The film has been shot in London, Mumbai, Goa, Los Angeles and Amritsar with the Golden Temple as the backdrop. The point of having such a vast canvas was to give it a global mix in the typical Gurinder Chadha style.
" All the lead actors including Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Anupam Kher, Sonali Kulkarni and Nadira Babar have been fantastic. Anupam is truly brilliant. I haven’t come across a better performer who can soak in a character so completely. After Bend It Like Beckham he’s my lucky mascot and will be there in all my films," says An Indian born in Kenya, Chadha migrated to England where she has spent all her growing years. In a way she belongs to the fast growing hyphenated generation of Indians living in different parts of the world. Her first film Bhaji on the Beach, was a metaphor for the lives of South Asian women living in England. It was a race-sensitive entertainer which not only examined the cross-cultural conflicts but also aspirations and dilemmas of a generation of west-born Indians teetering between two cultures - that of India and of their adopted homeland. The film took a hilarious look at the first generation migrants from India and their desperate attempts at protecting their Indianness. " I grew-up in an environment where my family wanted me to be Indian while I was inclined to adopt a British way of life. So I’ve experienced the dilemma faced by thousands of Asians born in the West. When I decided to make a film the issue that was closest to my heart came first in mind," says Chadha. Bhaji On the Beach won numerous awards and was nominated for the BAFTA for the Best British Film of 1994. Chadha won the prestigious Evening Standard British Film Award for the Best Newcomer to British Cinema. For a film that had a non-descript cast it did well not just among the British-Asians but also among British cine-goers. Critical Success Buoyed by its success, Chadha made What's Cooking? The film, though a critical success, was a commercial disaster. " The mistake I made was to shoot it in America. I feel my way of looking at things is different from American and British directors," says Chadha. Which explains why in Bend It Like Beckham she went back to her first love - speaking about the cultural isolation of British-Asians that is resulting in break-up of families and other serious emotional problems. But with Bride And Prejudice she has gone beyond that theme. "Thanks to Bend It Like Beckham I now have a platform. My endeavour here is to tell the world - and especially America - that there is lot more to India than just the Taj Mahal and a place to go for a karma break." Film aficionados are hoping that her new film will transform Chadha from a chronicler of marginalized Indians into a global filmmaker.
CAPTIONS 1] Gurinder Chadha…Filmmaker of the hyphenated generation. 2] Aishwarya Rai With Martin Henderson 3] With Martin Henderson…Cross-border romance. 4] Aishwarya (Centre) in a dance number…Bollywood style potboiler.
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