The film director goes down memory lane with Sunday MiD DAY after meeting cast members of her first film, Salaam Bombay, after 22 years
The film director goes down memory lane with Sunday MiD DAY after meeting cast members of her first film, Salaam Bombay, after 22 yearsMIRA Nair, the internationally renowned director of films like Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair and The Namesake, recently met two members of the cast of her first and most famous film, Salaam Bombay.
Mira Nair flanked by Hansa Vithal (plays Manju in the film) and
Shafiq Syed (plays Chaipau) during the shooting of Salaam Bombay. Nair met Hansa Vitha and Shafiq Syed, who worked in her 1988 film about street children, at the International Film Festival Of India in Goa last week. "Hansa and Shafiq are happily married now," said Nair. "By a bizarre
coincidence, both have three children and a fourth on the way. I told them, ab bas, band karo and lectured them on family planning," Nair laughed.
The cast members, Nair added happily, are doing well for themselves. "Shafiq is a sound recordist and an autorickshaw owner. I was very particular about their lives," said Nair who started the Salaam Baalak Trust after completing the film. "In Salaam Bombay, we cast street kids to portray their own lives. (After the film was completed) we tried but couldn't find any institution to support these children, so we created our own."
SBT now has 17 centres in Mumbai and looks after 5,000 street children.
"Salaam Bombay has had a very important influence on the Indian government's policies on children. The Trust is directly linked to policy makers," said Nair.
Mumbai, Mumbai Right now though, Nair is focussing on her upcoming film Shantaram, based on the immensely popular 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts. But the release date of the film, she said, is out of her hands.
"I've spent a year working on the screenplay with Eric Roth. But the project is controlled by Johnny Depp, a big name in the industry. I pray that it happens soon," she said. Like Salaam Bombay and Slumdog Millionaire, Shantaram too is about the city's grimy and underprivileged underbelly.
"Mumbai is an easy place to make films on. Besides Salaam Bombay, the other films that captured the real Mumbai were Ram Gopal Varma's Satya and Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday," said Nair.
Does Boyle's Oscar winner not feature on that list?
"Slumdog Millionaire captured me for the first 20 minutes. The casting director Loveleen Tandon did a
wonderful job by insisting on casting real kids. The kids felt so real. But when they grow up, the film became a feel-good potboiler. My friend, Sooni Taraporevala (Salaam Bombay's screenwriter) said Slumdog Millionaire was Salaam Bombay on speed."
Fearless NairIf Slumdog won the Oscar, it was Salaam Bombay that started the trend of filming the reality of the city.
"When Salaam Bombay was nominated for an Academy Award, the announcers Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen couldn't even pronounce my name. Sooni leaned over to me and said, 'India still has a long way to go'," recalled Nair.
"They say you take your greatest risks on your first film. I still try to be fearless. My second film Mississippi Masala too was free of fears and dealt with racial concerns," said Nair.
Nair is contemplating approaching Bollywood stars to make a Broadway musical on Monsoon Wedding. "The actor needs a lot of stamina to sing, dance and perform. Our actors sing and dance. But let's see," she said.
