Meenakshi Shedde: 'Being unhappy is a sin'

Therersquos a killer line in Taste of Cherry directed by Abbas Kiarostami that great Iranian poet of the cinema who passed away last week The film is about a moroselooking man Mr Badii who drives around the hills beyond Tehran looking for someone who is willing to bury him when he commits suicide A series of men he tries to persuade skedaddle off At one point he tells one of them ldquoI know suicide is one of the deadly sins But being unhappy is a great sin too When you are unhappy you hurt other people Isnrsquot that a sin toordquoA still from Abbas Kiarostamirsquos 1990 film CloseUpItrsquos such a Kiarostami idea mdash of unhappiness being a great sin That we owe it to ourselves to be happy in this lifetime His films are replete with philosophical ideas like that couched in personal stories often with long takes of magnificent landscapes or people in the driverrsquos seat of a car Finally Mr Badii lies in his grave at night but awakens the next morning to sounds of a film shoot and immediately curious goes to find out about the film Turns out itrsquos partly fake as the shoot is ldquoonly for soundrdquo mdash but cinema has already saved Mr Badiirsquos lifeOf the many great films Kiarostami made CloseUp remains close to my heart ldquoCloseUp is the only film I really like among my filmsrdquo Kiarostami once told the media In addition to its complex docufiction artistry there is such generosity in Kiarostami then 49 making a film openly tributing fellow and rival filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf then just 32 who had started out as a radical Islamist and publicly denounced prerevolutionary directors including Kiarostami The film is a docufiction on a poor fellow Hossein Sabzian who is tried in court for attempted fraud for impersonating the director Makhmalbaf in real life in the film the impersonator Sabzian plays himself playing Makhmalbaf mdash delightful A haunting paean to the artistic aspirations of the most dispossessed among us When Kiarostami asks the arrested Sabzian if he can help he says he has a message for Mr Makhmalbaf Tell him ldquoHis lsquoThe Cyclistrsquo is part of merdquoand eventually secures pardon Another life saved by cinemardquoMr Kiarostami also an accomplished painter photographer illustrator and graphic designer had earlier worked as a traffic policeman to support his masterrsquos in fine arts He once told the press ldquoMaybe more than a teller I am a story listener I really enjoy listening to stories All of my films are a collection of small stories that have been told to merdquo Asked how he chose his students in the film school in Iran where he taught he replied ldquoI donrsquot ask if they have studied film or any education in general What I ask them is to come and sit and tell me a story and the way they choose it and tell it become for me the best criteria for whether they are right for making films Therersquos nothing more important than being able to tell your story orallyrdquoI once met Kiarostami at the Busan Film Festival we were introduced by Sri Lankan filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara Suddenly tonguetied in the presence of greatness and uncertain if handshakes were permissible I bowed low and touched my hand to my forehead in a salaam Graciously he bowed low and touched his hand to his heart as we both smiled broadly I will always cherish that beautiful wordless momentMeenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival awardwinning critic curator to festivals worldwide and journalist Reach her at meenakshisheddegmailcom