'I'm a creature of many worlds'

What prompted you to make a film on Mohsin Hamidrsquos bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist After reading Mohsinrsquos novel I realised that though it was a monologue it had the potential to have a dialogue with America And that gave me the springboard to adapt it into a movie Thatrsquos the way I look at adaptations They need to have a point of view While being faithful to the bookrsquos spirit I should also be able to say what I want to Was Mohsin involved in the adaptation process Yes When I bought the novel I approached Alist Hollywood screenwriters and saw how ignorant they were about the subcontinent And sometimes with ignorance comes arrogance I would have conversations with them where they would say ldquoFirstly we should just crop the word fundamentalistrdquo and I knew instantly that the collaboration wouldnrsquot work I knew what I wanted to do in the movie embellish the Pakistani family in the film create a third act depicting what happens when Changez the protagonist played by Riz Ahmed comes to Pakistan and what makes him the popular voice of the people I also wanted to reflect the contemporary goings on of the world in the last decade But I needed help with regards to how to do it Finally I went to Mohsin and we decided to adapt the film ourselves Mohsin was with us right from the beginning It took you five years to make the film Yes five years is a long time But I didnrsquot get impatient We had a wonderful screenplay I had the cast I wanted but the project fell apart twice because we couldnrsquot get financiers That was disheartening There was a certain moment when I wanted to give up cinema altogether I told myself that I have a lot of other interests in life Irsquom a gardener I can study the Upanishads forever I do yoga I felt the universe had conspired against me for this movie But I had two inspirations to keep me going one were my 21yearold son Zohran and my husband Mahmood Mamdani who are not great fans of me leaving the family to make movies but they felt I should really make this film So they would say lsquoYou gonna do itrsquo And the other inspiration was Faiz Ahmed Faizrsquos poem Mori Araj Suno I would hear it like a mantra everyday And I kept going My pet name is pagli you know laughs Now when I look back Irsquom glad I made this film because it has turned out exactly the way I wanted it to be Itrsquos made with complete creative freedom In your earlier interviews you have mentioned that you are smitten by Lahore What is it about the city that you love so much I love the refinement of artistic expression be it music art or even fashion I would meet ordinary people who would do riyaaz just because they had a ldquoshauqrdquo for music Their love for traditional arts and unbelievable largesse of spirit is fascinating We tried to capture every nuance of the city as accurately as we could whether it was the pouchas pleats of the pyjamas or the poster of Benazir Bhutto during elections Irsquom a sucker for perfection Pakistani actorsinger Meesha Shafi who is in the movie calls me lsquoan authenticity junkiersquo Was it difficult to shoot in Pakistan No because we shot with the second unit We couldnrsquot shoot with the stars there because we needed insurance But it was a wonderful experience as the people are so warm over there There is so much talent there but for artistes getting a visa out of there is a different issue altogether So when someone goes there to shoot a film they welcome you with open arms After facing so many trials and tribulations while making this movie what have you taken away from this journey That Irsquom soon heading towards naach gaana and tamasha in a hurry laughs out loud Irsquom just joking Irsquom really grateful that I made this movie Itrsquos a film you havenrsquot seen before At the heart of it is a brown manrsquos comingofage story supported by Alist Hollywood actors such as Kate Hudson Keifer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber Just that shift of power itself says that lsquoWe are the world this is our storyrsquo You have made movies that have been set in the Indian and western ethos How do you shift between the two I have made each film for a different reason Although my roots are strong I can fly Irsquom a creature of many worlds and that is the beauty and complexity of life wherein you can be more than one thing Irsquom at home at many places and thatrsquos what I bring to my movies And that is also the strength of The Reluctant Fundamentalist I wanted both the worlds Pakistan and America to be interpreted with the same intimacy grace and love What are your future projects Irsquom working on the Broadway musical of Monsoon Wedding And Irsquom also doing research for my next film The Queen of Katwe Itrsquos the true story of an eightyearoldslum girl Phiona who was taught chess by another slum kid They played chess with bottle caps By nine she was the Ugandan female chess champion and by 10 she played in the Olympics She is now 14 Will we ever see you helm a Bollywood film Would you like me to You have so many people who are great at it Honestly I would love to and I might do it some day But I need to say something in my movie rather than just proving that even I can make a typical Bollywood film like the others Thatrsquos not interesting Human relationships and emotions play a significant role in all your movies What prompts you to highlight them with such detail I didnrsquot set out to be a filmmaker I was an actor and I went on a scholarship to America where I stumbled upon the cinema verite truth of cinema course It was taught by Rikki Leacock who also invented the mobile camera From him I learnt how to capture the truth of life through a documentary I think therersquos nothing more extraordinary than ordinary life and capturing the varied dimensions of human emotions Also Irsquom an apolitical person who knows what is going on in the world So combining both these aspects gives me a minefield of opportunities Thatrsquos the way I look at life And I hope to capture that in my cinema You have made short films in the past With the recent release of Bombay Talkies do you think short films are the next big step in Indian cinema or is it too early to say that I make at least one short film every year Honestly I think itrsquos all about making good cinema I have been involved in this form since many years I love the rigueur of short film But I donrsquot know if itrsquos the big thing Woh aapke haath mein hai Thatrsquos in your hands We make you proclaim How would you describe yourself as a person My pet name Pagli describes me fairly well I donrsquot look at mirrors How do you unwind after a long hard day Irsquom an aspiring yogi Yoga is the key to putting ego out of the door and having strength and equilibrium Over the years I have become a fairly serious gardener The equator runs through my garden so itrsquos a very fertile place and helps me learn a lot about trees and plants Trees are a great teacher for cinema You canrsquot impose anything on them You have to understand why something is working and why something is not Apart from that Irsquom an active mother wife daughter daughterinlaw I live with three generations at my home So when I want to make a film it better be good enough for me to leave my family and home