Nandita Das
The Active Element
She won’t swap her good-ole Fiat for a fashionable automobile just to be “with it”. This self-proclaimed rebel won’t think twice before letting go of a seemingly big one like Mann on the grounds that it “isn’t her”. She won’t shift base to Mumbai as it will take away her “sanity and sense of gravity”. She won’t be over-awed by Big B while playing his wife in Rakesh Mehra’s movie.

She will, however, find all the time for her social concerns and conduct workshops with teachers and kids. She will grab an obscure regional film only because she’s touched by the rookie zeal of the maker. She will screen-test for Aamir’s Lagaan and be told off politely for the “intelligent look” in her eyes. Without mincing words Nandita Das gets to the point, marshalling her opinion on commerce, carnage and common sense in cinema.

Cut to Varanasi where she’s camping over the last one and a half months in preparation for her part in Deepa Mehta’s Water.

Is Water about widow prostitution as suggested by the protestors?

Water certainly is not about pushing widows into prostitution. It does refer to one widow who gets pushed into the flesh trade and adopts a fatalistic attitude towards it all. She looks upon it as her karma - something that she has to do to survive and not be flung out on the ghats. There is enough documentary evidence about such incidents. But that’s a very marginal part of the plot. Water is in no way denigrating to women or the holy city of Benaras.

Strangest things happen in our country, I am told there’s a place in Maharashtra where every single strand of hair is plucked out from a widow’s head. Truth is really stranger than fiction. To think no one is protesting against that brutality!

Apart from sacrificing your silky tresses what other preparations have you done for Water?

I was laughing all the while when they were snipping off my hair but it was a nervous sort of laughter. I had to do away with my hair, it was necessary. As far as the preparations go I have visited several widow houses here and tried to soak in the environment. The first time I visited one, I was full of preconceived notions - as to how drab and sad must those places be. But I was pleasantly shocked by their zest for life. There were eight widows living in the basement of a guest house and all were full of pointed and pertinent queries.

What comes first in your scheme of things - acting or social work?

After doing masters in social work I started working with an NGO called Ankur and then for Alarippu, a children’s organisation - which is about making education more enjoyable.

As for acting, I enjoyed it even when I was in school. I was always drawn towards the performing arts. Dad being a painter and mom a writer, I grew up in an environment where musicians, dancers, theatre persons and painters come home and we watched shows and such. I was always drawn to dance and theatre. I learnt Odissi for 12 years and at some point I thought I would be a dancer. I started acting with a street theatre group called Jannatya Manch - Safdar Hashmi’s group. I did it for six years but somehow in street theatre acting was not the main focus, it was more the issue, discussing and evolving the play. Then I did proseneum theatre with Barry Jones, Habib Tanvir, Kiran. But I never took it up seriously.

Luckily for me my parents never told me to make a career, I never had that kind of pressure. I went to Rishi Valley, J Krishanmurty Foundation, where my brother studied and raved about it. I went there as a teacher teaching standard five, I learnt a lot of things in the arts and craft department. It was a pleasure working with children, that was when I decided to do MA in social work. In between I also did a serial for Muzaffar Ali.

Your first film?

Prakash Jha’s Pariniti in 87 was my debut film, a small film made for TV and the film festival circuit - I had a small but powerful role in it. I continued with my studies and then in 95, I did Ek Thi Gunja, a film in the same league of festival and TV type. And then came Fire which should be called my first major film.

Of the elemental trilogy - Fire, Earth and Water, which is your favourite?

I love the script of Water. I play the role of Janaki, a good person with a strong faith in God. She’s optimistic of a better life knowing well that she is a widow. It’s her child-like innocence that is very endearing.

What are the films in the offing?

I am doing a film on AIDS, Ek Alag Mausam, directed by KP Shashi and scripted by Mahesh Dattani. We have finished half the schedule and the film is shot entirely in Kerala. It’s not a ringside view of the trauma. Rajat Kapoor is the co-star, we are both HIV positive and it’s about how the two of us deal with it. My character deals with the situation with a total sense of denial - and then she discovers the joy of living. Renuka Shahane essays the role of a sex worker in it.

What about the Jag Mundhra flick?

It’s based on a true incident of a woman who was gang-raped seven years ago and she is still fighting the case. The rapists are not only roaming around freely but also have been garlanded and felicitated by local politicians. She is a kumbharan, a potter. It stars Rahul Khanna, Laila Ruoass, Gulshan Grover, Deepti Naval and Raghubir Yadav.

Are you averse to commercial films?

Thanks to you guys for writing that I look down upon commercial offers and that I am arrogant and snooty. So not too many are forthcoming with those kind of offers.

You did turn down Mann, didn’t you?

That sounds pretty pompous, I had gone there on Aamir’s insistence and I quite liked the character of the heroine but things reached a point when I realised that the director and I were looking at the film so differently that either he was going to throw me out of the film or I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I decided then that spending sleepless nights wasn’t the right thing.

Then you nixed Lagaan.

No, I didn’t. Aamir had spoken to me about the role but I didn’t find it very interesting. But I did come down to Mumbai during the casting of Lagaan. Director Ashutosh Gowarikar insisted on screen-testing me, it was almost like an exam for me. Eventually he felt there was too much intelligence in my eyes. So I didn’t bag the film.

What about the Rakesh Mehra flick where you play Amitabh Bachchan’s wife?

I was very excited to work with Mr Bachchan - after all I have grown up watching his films and he is a great actor - iconic. But I am not overawed by him. I get along very well with Jayaji since the Hazar Chaurasi days so I have seen Mr Bachchan at home and all.

Are you dancing and prancing with him in the film?

There is a song in the backdrop but none of your typical running around shrubbery routine.

Why the walk-on part in Hyderabad Blues?

Just for fun and also because Nagesh called me up about 100 times and producer Tutu Sharma came in and they almost pressurised me into it. For me it’s very important that I feel good about an offer. The honesty of the maker must be palpable.

So language is no barrier for you?

What choices does an actress have? Why should language stop you - Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Marwari, I enjoyed all those regional films. I would rather do an obscure regional film with a limited audience and be proud of it than be just a part of a successful film. Moreover regional films offer me an opportunity to interact with interesting people.

You have met David Dhawan and Subhash Ghai informally, what’s the prospect of working in a typical masala flick?

I will work in a film which is believable. Even if it’s total fantasy, it must ring true in a sense. I am idealistic in a way but as an actor one should be able to do a lot of different things.

What according to you is the most challenging aspect of acting?

Dealing with so many human beings. It’s great at times but at times you may not get along with a person in an important position. That’s why rehearsals are so important to know that chemistry with your co-stars and feel comfortable. We are humans first and then actors.

Isn’t it high time you shifted to Mumbai?

There’s a whole lot of things to being an actress in Mumbai but I will not be able to keep my sanity or sense of gravity by being in that environment. There is peer pressure and insecurity, so I won’t shift to Mumbai. There’s more of other things than acting over here. I may open doors to middle of the way cinema by coming here. But I prefer keeping a safe distance and enjoy it as long as it works.

Shabana Azmi
THE BALD NEW LOOK!

Did you have to shave off your hair for Water?

Deepa couldn’t stop me from going bald. It is very important to internalise and as an actor I had to let go of my vanity and inhibitions and the feminism attached to long hair. There’s no need to make a big issue of it. If a role demands I can put on or shed weight, for the very same reason I can also shave of my head.

If the role demanded, would you do a nude scene?

No! Because beyond a point it’s me. I have inhibitions as a person about going buck. It is very courageous of actors who can do it.

What other preparation have you done for this film?

For starters, Javed got sick of seeing me on my haunches in a white saree. And then we have been rehearsing for a while here.

What’s your role in Water like?

I play the part of Shakuntala, a rigid, ritualistic person who’s enigmatic and unpredictable. Her life changes when a child widow walks in and starts questioning her about the logic of it all. She’s enlightened and then she starts liberating the little girl from the shackles of the widow house.

Will you pick your national award like this?

Sure, I shall be in Delhi on February 15 to receive the honours.

Deepa Mehta
Insha Allah, Water will still be shot in Varanasi

What prompted you to make the elemental trilogy?

I was inspired by Satyajit Ray’s famous trilogy.

Where did you find the story of Water?

Right here in Varanasi, seven years ago while shooting an interesting film entitled Young Krishnamurthy Meets Indiana Jones. I visited several widow houses then, more over Varanasi is a such a beautiful city of celestial aartis and divine ambience that made for an ideal backdrop for a film.

What kind of research was involved in the scripting of Water?

I read up a lot of books right from Kalidas’s Meghdoot to Those People in recent times before penning the script. I also visited many widow houses for first hand information.

What’s your old widows’ tale about?

It’s the celebration of dignity of women not only in India but all over the world.

Reportedly Tabu and Manisha Koirala, your first choices for the parts of widows in the film, backed out when you insisted on having a real tonsured look for the film?

I admire both Tabu and Manisha as actresses and we will work together sometime in future. But in this case as the characters developed Nandita fitted the bill perfectly. Shabana had been cast the day I started writing the script.

Isn’t Water about three widows, where’s the third one then?

Here, this eight-year-old Urvi Gokani. She plays the part of a child widow named Chuhia. She’s the catalyst in the film, she starts questioning the widow system and in turn initiates the process of their liberation. When I met Urvi in Mumbai, it was love at first sight. She was my Chuhia - she has by-hearted not only her lines but also everybody else’s in the film.

You had even approached Shah Rukh for the part that went to Akshay Kumar eventually. Why Akki?

Akshay is so beautiful and there’s a goodness in his eyes that was essential for the part of Narayan, a Gandhian idealist who falls in love with a young widow played by Nandita.

What about the music of Water?

We have AR Rahman’s music and Sukhwinder Singh’s lyrics. We have already recorded four songs and two are in the making. It has the makings of a phenomenal soundtrack.

What’s the proposed shooting schedule of Water?

Insha Allah, Water will be shot entirely in Varanasi, 70 per cent indoors and the rest along the ghats of holy Ganges over 36 shooting days in one schedule with synch-sound.

Deepa Karmalkar                                                            Next