Tormented, yet standing tall
by: Pratim D. Gupta
- telegraphindia.com
Bhanwari Devi, Kiranjit Ahluwalia and Sonia Gandhi... Jag Mundhra is intrigued by women who fight the odds to find their voice...
Did the presence of Cannes favourites Aishwarya Rai and Nandita Das in your film help Provoked gain a premiere at the festival this year?
Our international promoters Lee Daniels Entertainment submitted Provoked to the Cannes committee and they have agreed to a proper red carpet premiere even though the film is not an official selection, nor is it in the competition. But Cannes is always a good opportunity to launch a film worldwide, a great venue to unveil a film. And all of us — Ash, Nandita, A.R. Rahman and me — will be there at the premiere.
It’s a great launch considering the film wasn’t taking off at one point of time…
Yes… In 2001, when I first read the story about this battered woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia taking revenge on her tormentors in a book called Circle of Life, I wanted to make a film on it. The author wanted me to make the film based on a script they had adapted from the book. I couldn’t do that because her handling of the story and my imagination were completely different. So the project didn’t take off.
In 2004, when I was in London for some work, the same writer inquired if I was still interested to make a movie out of her book because she hadn’t been able to get a director to take her script. I agreed because I was getting to write the script my way.
What attracted you to the story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia?
There is one line in the book where a social worker asks Kiranjit in prison: “How are you?” She replies: “I feel free.” That was so remarkable. Her life must have been such hell that she is finding prison to be free! Also, the fact that her case changed British law. It changed the definition of a “battered woman”. It changed the definition of the word “provoked”.
How did you get Aishwarya Rai to play the lead?
The producers I was working with were friends of Aishwarya, having worked with her in the early 90s in Jeans. She read the story and liked it instantly but her calendar was not free till 2007. Then she threw me a challenge that if I could finish the script in a couple of months, she could shoot for the film right after Mistress of Spices during the 40-day break she intended to take. This was on March 8 last year and by May 6, we were shooting for the film. My Los Angeles-based writer and me had finished the first draft of the script in three weeks flat.
There are two schools of thought about Ash. One believes she is just a glam doll, the other looks at her as a sensitive performer. What is your view?
This may sound self-serving now, but Aishwarya has done a fabulous job in my film. She is completely de-glamourised. What I liked most about her was that she never argued with me on anything and completely surrendered to me. She never once wanted to see on the monitor how the shot went, she was so confident about me… At one point of time, when Aishwarya was shooting for one of those sequences of physical abuse, she was so real, I felt like going up to her, hugging her and saying: “All men are not bad.” God has made her so beautiful but she never sat on it, at least not on my sets.
She has also taken your project to a different marketing level altogether…
My film got made only because of her. Before she came on board, Provoked was looked upon as a grim subject. But as soon as Ash was signed, people started seeing the commercial possibilities of the film. Production and distribution companies in England and America began looking at the project. She worked for 14 to 15 hours a day for the 36 days that she shot with me. I can only give her all the credit for making Provoked possible.
How did you get Nandita Das to play such a small role?
Her role is small but it is very important. Nandita is a personal friend from the time I worked with her in Bawander. There is something in her eyes that tell you that she is not a fake. If she is doing a film with a cause, she believes in it. Nandita is such a feisty woman and she believes in this cause of battered women. She wanted this to come out from under the rug and get exposed and I wanted only her for the role she is playing. Even though the film is about Aishwarya, all the other actors are perfectly fitted into the scheme of things.
Bollywood has a step-motherly attitude towards you, labelling you an NRI film-maker…
I am very much an Indian, but yes I am also a truly global citizen. I have shot an English film in India, I have shot an Indian film abroad…The boundaries, I believe, are in the head. If a story is good, it will work, no matter what the language is.
I spent Rs 3.5 crore making Bawander, 90 per cent of which was in Rajasthani but it was shown throughout the world. Here in Provoked, the story terminates in the courtrooms of London, so my lawyers will obviously talk in English. In Bollywood, most producers go abroad to shoot even when it is not required. I can’t work like that.
Related Links:
04/11/06 'Provoked' to be premiered at Cannes - deccanherald.com
03/20/06 The directors' cut - telegraph.co.uk
02/11/06 Provoked: Ash in action - indiatimes.com
02/04/06 'Provoked' to premiere at Cannes 2006 - mumbaimirror.com
01/02/06 Still fighting for protecting women's rights
11/21/05 Roger Moore's daughter in Provoked - hindustantimes.com
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