Mumbai Archive

Mumbai, Nov 3 – Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore has starred with her daughter Soha Ali Khan for the first time in ‘Life Goes On’, a film on British Indians that was screened at the ongoing 11th Mumbai Film Festival.

‘This is the first time Sharmila Tagore and Soha are sharing screen space. I have known Sharmila Tagore for a long time and from the very beginning I have imagined her in the character she is playing,’ said Sangeeta Datta, who has made her directorial debut with the film.

‘I have worked with Soha while I was associate director in Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Antar Mahal’,’ said London-based Datta.

The story of ‘Life Goes On’ revolves around the cultural conflict between a father and his youngest daughter, with different sub-plots shown in flashback.

The story, script and screenplay are by Datta and detail the prejudices and Islam-phobia still deep-rooted among certain sections of immigrant Indians in London. It is a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ but it has a hopeful ending.

‘The story is the contemporary adaptation of ‘King Lear’, though the ending is more hopeful. It shows that love can conquer,’ explained Datta.

Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Om Puri, Soha Ali Khan, Rez Kempton, Neerja Naik, Mukulika Banerjee, Christopher Hatherall, Stef Patten and Aria Gitanjali Banerjee Watts played the lead roles in the film.

Datta worked as an associate director in Rituparno Ghosh’s films ‘Chokher Bali’, ‘Raincoat’ and ‘Antar Mahal’.

When asked about their performance while sharing screen space, she said: ‘They were as good as expected. They gave an amazing performance while shooting an extremely difficult scene.’

She said Sharmila is a perfectionist and even guides co-actors. ‘Sharmila wants the shots to be perfect. She helps her co-stars whenever required,’ said Datta.

The director wanted to cast veteran Bengali actor Saumitra Chatterjee, but he was not keeping well, so Girish Karnad was chosen instead.

‘I was very keen to rope in Saumitra Chatterjee but he was not keeping well those days. Thankfully, Karnad agreed,’ said Datta.

Lyricist Javed Akhtar translated two Tagore songs into Urdu for the film. Datta says this is the first time any Rabindra Sangeet has been translated into Urdu.

‘Rabindra Sangeet itself has been used in films plenty of times, but this is the first time the lyrics of such a song have been translated into Urdu with the same tune,’ said Datta.

She would prefer to call ‘Life Goes On’ a British movie.

‘I am a British Bengali but still hold an Indian passport. As the story is about immigrant Indians in London and has been shot with a British crew, probably it would be considered a British movie,’ guessed Datta.

The Mumbai film fest started Oct 29 and will conclude Nov 5. The film will also be screened at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival in New York this month.

Mumbai, Nov 3 – A Kashmiri by origin, Tariq Tapa was tired of films being made on Kashmir that revolved around terrorism. Having studied filmmaking in the US, he finally made his directorial debut at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) with ‘Zero Bridge’ on life and people in state.

‘In recent times, every film on Kashmir has had some reference to terrorism. I wanted to make a film on the people and their life in Kashmir,’ Tariq told IANS.

‘Zero Bridge’, which was screened here Saturday, is about a boy Dilwara who stays in the outskirts of Srinagar with his uncle after he was abandoned by his adoptive mother. Rebellious by nature, Dilwara hates his current life and secretly plans to join his adoptive mother in Delhi.

‘Zero Bridge’ has been nominated for the international competition for debutant directors at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival Oct 29-Nov 5. The movie, which stars people who are not professional actors, was completed in nine months. Further, it had no proper crew as Tariq donned the roles of director, lightman, cameraman and editor.

‘The film is about the normal people of Kashmir; so I chose among them. I had a tight budget; so I did the lighting, camera, direction, editing and marketing almost single-handedly. My producer Hilal Ahmed and my lead actor Imran Tapa assisted me to some extent,’ Tariq said.

Kashmiri by origin, Tariq was born and brought up in New York and studied filmmaking in Houston. He has done extensive reserach on Kashmir and its people.

‘I was doing this research for years and finally when I decided to make a feature film, the plot was already in my mind,’ he said.

Interestingly, producer Hilal Ahmed is a travel agent by profession and it was he who did most of the translation from English to Urdu to make the actors understand their dialogues.

‘Most of the actors in the film are unschooled and illiterate so I translated the English dialogues into Urdu,’ Ahmed said, adding that 50 percent of the dialogues were scripted on the set.

‘There was a draft of the dialogues, but 50 percent of the final dialogue were written on set,’ he said.

Imran Tapa, the lead actor of ‘Zero Bridge’, is Tariq’s cousin and he never imagined that he would end up acting in a film.

‘I am a student and had planned to join our family business. I became an actor by chance,’ Imran said.

Asked if he would continue with acting and try his luck in Bollywood, he said: ‘I’m not sure. I won’t run around for a chance in Bollywood. If things come my way, I will surely accept.’

Mumbai, Oct 29 – Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Paathshala’, which has been ready for the last one year, will finally hit screens next year and the actor says his role is substantial even though it is not long enough.

”Paathshala’ is small in comparison to some other films that I am doing. Moreover, I not a quintessential hero in the film. However, it isn’t as if I have a special appearance in the film, as has been speculated by some. I have a substantial role that lasts for 30-40 minutes in the film,’ Shahid, who had two releases — ‘Kaminey’ and ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ this year –, told IANS.

‘Paathshala’ was earlier being co-produced by choreographer-turned-filmmaker Ahmed Khan with Big Pictures. However, as per current developments, Eros International would be presenting the film.

The first look of the film was revealed a year ago with ‘Karzzzz’. It was expected that the film would release in January 2009, but it continued to move ahead. Directed by award-winning Marathi film director Milind Ukey, ‘Paatshala’ is expected to release in the first half of 2010.

‘Yes, the film moved from Big Pictures to Eros and they would be making plans to line up the film in a proper manner. However, I am sure they would have the right campaign in place for the film’s release. The film has to be protected and released when there is no other film of mine coming up,’ said Shahid, who plays a teacher in it.

The film brings together Ayesha Takia with Shahid after ‘Dil Maange More’ and ‘Fool-N-Final’. Incidentally, the two had worked together years ago as child artists in the famous commercial for the health drink Complan.

The film also stars Nana Patekar along with child artists Swini Khara, Ali Haji and Dwij Yadav.

Set against the Indian education system, ‘Paathshala’ deals with contemporary and socially relevant issues regarding children. It claims to carry a heartfelt message for children, parents and teachers.

‘It’s a very socially relevant film and talks about the education system in the country. I am really happy to have played a role in it. I have seen the rushes of the film and really cried throughout. I get really emotional when watching a film. Even during ‘Taare Zameen Par’, I cried throughout and was looking around me if anyone was watching me,’ he said.

Unlike ‘Taare Zameen Par’, which was shot on real locations, ‘Paathshala’ was filmed on a set. To give it an authentic look, Khan had erected a massive set of a school at Film City — it consisted of class rooms, dormitories, principal’s cabin, staff rooms, half a dozen huge corridors, basket ball court, garden, assembly hall, music room and canteen.

Mumbai, Oct 27 – Actor Zayed Khan says that when his parents Sanjay and Zarine Khan watched his heart-in-the-mouth motorcycle stunts in recently released ‘Blue’, they threw a fit.

‘When I saw their reaction, I had to do some quick thinking or else my parents would freak out and probably order me to give up movies. My helmet, which covered my face through most of the mo’bike racing scenes, saved me. I told them it was a body-double doing those stunts,’ Zayed told IANS.

But the fact is Zayed did most of the action scenes.

‘I had accepted the role only so I could do these stunts. Except when my bike jumps on to a train, all the other stunts are mine. And that train stunt I didn’t do because my action director said he wanted me to be alive to complete the film,’ he said.

Released Friday, the underwater thriller is directed by Anthony D’Souza and also stars Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar.

Ever since Sanjay’s near-fatal fire accident in 1989 in Mysore during the shooting of the serial ‘The Sword Of Tipu Sultan’, Sanjay and Zarine are paranoid about shooting mishaps. Sanjay suffered extensive burns and almost lost his life.

When their only son Zayed decided to become a movie actor, their first and only pre-condition was, no dangerous stunts.

‘It was almost like a holy diktat, not to perform anything that would be potentially harmful to me,’ said Zayed.

Until ‘Blue’, where on the script level itself Zayed could see that his two lengthy bike chase sequences on the Ducati 999 were potentially more lethal than anything the average action hero performs.

‘I had two options – either say no to the most exciting role I had been offered so far. Or hide the truth from my parents,’ he said.

Zayed chose the latter option. And went on to do the stunts with his heart in his mouth. ‘Not because I was scared, but what would my parents think and say when they saw what I had done.’

Zayed hopes his parents accept the truth. ‘If you are an actor, you gotta do it all. One can be wounded even while standing under a roof. Jo hona hoga woh hoga (whatever has to happen, will happen),’ he said.

Mumbai, Oct 27 – Asin Thottumkal, whose back-to-back promotional campaigns for ‘London Dreams’ left her exhausted, ushered in her birthday quietly with a few friends and family members. She says it was the most ‘peaceful and happy birthday’ of her life.

‘Actually I hadn’t slept at all. I had been working non-stop for ‘London Dreams’ for the last one week with just three-four hours of sleep. Anyway I’m making up for the exhausting week with the most peaceful and happy birthday of my life,’ Asin, who turned 24 Monday, told IANS.

Asin brought in her birthday with a quiet dinner on Sunday night with her close friends. ‘It was eight of my closest friends at dinner. We had a ball. At midnight they made me cut a cake. I felt 12 years old again.’

Earlier during the evening Asin arrived home to a big surprise.

‘When I opened the door the entire house was done up with balloons by my parents, just like they used to do for my birthdays when I was a child. I had to burst quite a few balloons because there was no room to even walk. I’ve never felt happier,’ she said.

On her birthday the actress gorged on food and has regained all the weight that she had to lose for her role in ‘London Dreams’.

‘I had to be much thinner for my character. Now in 24 hours I think I’ve regained all the weight that I lost for ‘London Dreams’. I’ve been gorging non-stop on chocolates and chocolate cake. And there’s still so much left,’ said Asin, who made it big in Bollywood with ‘Ghajini’.

The second-half of the day was devoted to the kids in her highrise apartment. They all love their Asin didi and wouldn’t miss her birthday for the world.

‘Fortunately, there was enough cake and chocolates to go around. So it was great fun. This is the best birthday I had. I woke up to god knows how many SMSes and missed calls. I can’t believe so many people remembered my birthday and cared about it,’ she said.

But by far the best part of her birthday was provided by her parents. ‘When I saw the trouble they had taken over decorating my place, I decided then and there that I’m the luckiest girl in the world.’