Sharing concerns of US-born Indians

IF England pampers its taste buds with Chicken Tikkas and Darjeeling ‘chai’ at Chutney Mary, Indians in America are busy feasting their visual senses with their own version of chutney and ‘chai’.

A handful of US-born Indians are attempting to attract mainstream American consciousness by making films that talk a universal language and share concerns of young Indians growing up in common neighbourhoods though belonging to different cultures.

Mira Nair... Pioneering a trend

A number of films released this year portray aspirations and dilemmas of a generation of US-born Indians who are caught between American and Indian cultures.

Much like the trend started by Mira Nair in the eighties with films like ‘Mississippi Masala’ and ‘Salaam Bombay’, these new filmmakers are making powerful statements. And though they may be reaching out to a limited audience, their appeal is immense in film festivals around the world.

Nisha Ganatra portrays the dilemma succinctly in her film, ‘Chutney Popcorn’ that recently won the silver at the Berlin Film Festival, which selects films from independent producers. The film profiles a US-born Indian girl who is a lesbian — a common phenomenon in the US — but also wins the approval of her traditional family by serving as a surrogate mother for her sister who is medically unfit to have a baby.

“It’s never easy to get money for such a film,” says Ganatra most of whose finances were provided by gay, lesbian and women’s groups, more because the film projected their view and less because it concerned the South Asian community in America.

But, says Ganatra, mainstream American film sponsors have not yet realised the tremendous potential of Indo-American films. “There are thousands and thousands of second and third generation Indians like me out there — people who were born in America to Indian immigrants and for whom America is their own country. Look at the viewership potential of a community tied together by common concerns.”

Fellow filmmaker Anurag Mehta agrees. His ‘American Chai’ too talks the language of young Indians caught between two cultures. The story is cleverly woven around an Indian boy who wants to be a pop musician but is pressurised by his parents to pursue the medical profession.

“It’s so common,” says New York IT techie, Pranav Sharma, who saw the film at a private viewing. “The young boy thinks American and his immigrant parents think Indian. It keeps happening all around us. There are great pulls and pushes between first generation Indians and their children who are growing up in America and have a weak link with India.”

Gitesh Pandya’s ‘American Desi’ projects just that point of view. It depicts four Indians — Jagjit Singh, Krishnagopal Reddy, Salim and Ajay. All educated Indians who are determined to become ‘somebodies’ in this land of opportunities. “The idea was to break away from the Indian stereotype roles of taxi drivers, liquor store owners and other traditional occupations,” says Pandya.

Like Pandya, another Indian filmmaker, Krutin Patel’s film, ‘ABCD’ (perhaps for America Born Confused Desis) is another conscious effort to bridge the cultural divide. This, too, is a drama of two generations of an Indian family where the children of a widowed woman try and strike a delicate balance between their mother’s ideas steeped in Indian traditions and their own Americanised lifestyles.

Many of these filmmakers too have been caught between a world of their parents and the one they are living in. They may not have the flush of M. Night Shyamal’s success but their concerns are more real and more contemporary.

They are mirroring the predicaments of young people who are coming to terms with issues like arranged marriages, steady careers and pre-marital sex, that were paramount in the minds of their parents when they migrated to America in the sixties and seventies. At the same time, they are learning to live a life for themselves and on their own terms. (NF)

When friends turn foes
Gautam Grover

EVERYBODY knows of the legal wrangle Mahima Chaudhury had got into with her mentor, Subhash Ghai when she tried to release herself from the restrictive contract she signed for her launch vehicle, ‘Pardes’. Music composer Anu Malik’s tiff with singer Alisha Chinai over a molestation case is also well known.

Mahima fell out with Ghai

What however, never gets known are instances such as director David Dhawan falling out with his producer and close pal, Vashu Bhagnani after producing four massive hits ‘Coolie No 1’, ‘Hero No 1’, ‘Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan’ and ‘Biwi No 1’. Today one cannot stand the other and each is on his own.

Likewise, mystery surrounds the split between close buddies Sanjay Bhansali and choreographer Farah Khan after having worked together in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘1942: A Love Story’. Rumour has it that they squabbled over a joint award for Best Picturisation, which each felt the other did not deserve.

Chopra himself has made many enemies from Nana Patekar to Bobby Deol. The last was over the flopping of ‘Kareeb’, which marked the launch of Neha. While Chopra accuses Bobby of an “attitude problem”, the latter charges his director with losing his vision midway through making the film.

Salman: Trouble brewing with Bhansali

Success, too, has a way of turning friends into foes. And here, it is not the hit duo, Salim-Javed going their ways but more recently, Aamir Khan and director Ramgopal Varma. Aamir points out that Varma could never come to terms with him, as an actor, walking away with all the credit for the success of ‘Rangeela’.

For Bhansali also, trouble is brewing with his pet actor Salman Khan. The latter has sworn never to work with the maker of, ‘Khamoshi’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ after being dropped for Shahrukh Khan in ‘Devdas’. Sunny Deol is also keeping everybody guessing over splitting with Rajkumar Santoshi after producing three colossal hits together — ‘Ghayal’, ‘Damini’ and ‘Ghatak’.

Then there are actresses Raveena Tandon, Pooja Batra and Shilpa Shetty who have gone out with Akshay Kumar in the past, but do not have a kind word to say about him today. And the mention of Nana Patekar’s name in Manisha Koirala’s presence is only an invitation to a major fine works display! (MF)

BOLLYWOOD DIGEST

• Producer A.G. Nadiadwala has announced two movies with Mahesh Manjrekar as director. The first, ‘Kutumbh’, has Amitabh Bachchan in the lead while the hero of the second, ‘1857 — The Indian Mutiny’ is yet to be decided. Other members of cast and credits are also being finalised.

• The title of ‘Kaamras’ has been changed to ‘Premras’. With G. Jameel as director and Rajeev Raj, Geeta Nishaad, Bhoomi Patel and Aslam Sheikh in the leads, the film is being shot on a start-to-finish schedule at various locations of Mumbai.
• Director Anurag Basu launched a hitherto untitled film with Tusshar Kapoor and Eesha Deol facing the camera for the opening shot. Veteran actor Jeetendra, who is producing the film, is finalising other members of the cast and crew.
• Actor-director Satish Kaushik has completed a fortnight-long shoot for ‘Badhai Ho Badhai’ at Chamba and Dalhousie, in Himachal Pradesh. Many action and dramatic scenes were canned on lead stars Anil Kapoor, Kirti Reddy and Shilpa Shetty.
• Producer-director Umesh Mehra is currently camping in Russia with his 61-member unit of ‘Yeh Mohabbat Hai’. Three songs and the pre-climax scene of the film are to be canned on Akanksha, Rahul Bhatt, Danny Denzongpa, Gulshan Grover and other members of the cast.
• Many romantic, dramatic and action scenes were filmed for ‘Jaani Dushman’ on a huge set of a fort erected at Chandivali Studios, Mumbai. With Raj Kumar Kohli as producer and director, the film has Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Manisha Koirala in key roles.
• Director Sanjay Chhel has returned to Mumbai after a fortnight-long shoot for ‘Kya Dil Ne Kaha’ at various locations in Hyderabad. Lead stars Tusshar Kapoor, Eesha Deol, Rajesh Khanna and Raj Babbar participated in this schedule.
• Playback singer Jaspinder Narula recorded the title number of ‘Parilkhana’ on a score composed by Ram Shanker. With Ravi Patwa as producer and director and Samrat Mukherji, Sudesh Berry and Priyanka Sinha in the leads, the film is making rapid progress.
• Writer-director Mithun Singh has wrapped up the filming of ‘Inth Ka Jawab Pathar’. Dubbing is currently in progress at B.R. Theatres, Mumbai with all members of the cast, including Puru Raj Kumar, Divya Dutta, Sudesh Berry and Mohini Manek taking part.
• Producer Yousuf Salim has obtained the first print of ‘Raat Ke Saudagar’ from the labs. starring Aman Sagar, Kirti Shetty, Suresh Oberoi, Neena Gupta and Kader Khan, the film is being scheduled for release within a month. (MF)