What I got back from India was ten-fold'
23 Dec 2008, 0058 hrs IST, ANSHUL CHATURVEDI , TNN
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For those who came in late, suffice to say that the man who's made
Slumdog Millionaire, acclaimed British (well, Irish, if you please) director
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Danny Boyle. (TOI Photo)
Danny Boyle, is probably doing more to promote an international
understanding of Indian society at the moment than our representatives to
the UN and most of our diplomatic missions put together.
In the way it's bringing contemporary India to the Western audience, Slumdog
may well be to cinema what Shantaram was to books. And midway through the
film's global release – a staggered one, with the film coming to India in
January – the world saw the Mumbai massacre happen. A tragic coincidence,
for the film's concluding shot revolves around a moment of love, filmed at
Mumbai's CST Station. On 26/11, Danny, in fact, was at a screening of the
film for an audience in Cardiff, Wales. After the screening, he saw the
numerous calls he'd missed – and the next one informed him of what Mumbai
was going through at that moment. "It's not possible to differentiate levels
of shock, but I was particularly shocked by the pictures of VT. I found it
so awful, because I spent so much time there making the film, and also
because it's a great confluence of India, isn't it?" Danny muses. While he
insists on calling CST, VT, hopefully Raj Thackeray will forgive him the
impudence.
Critics say nobody's had the perspective to show Mumbai the way Danny's
done, despite us having maybe a thousand Bollywood movies revolving around
Mumbai. Vidhu Vinod Chopra recently said that this was a
movie<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/What_I_got_back_from_India_was_ten-fold/articleshow/3874718.cms#>that
an Indian director should have made, but didn't. Is there a karmic
connect, Danny, with the city that your dad was stationed in during WWII as
a British soldier, a city which producer Christian Colson described as "a
place that's more Danny Boyle than Danny is"? "Yes, I felt very much at
home," Danny acknowledges, laughing. "I grew up in an industrial town in
north-west England, it's obviously very different from there, but it's also
very similar. You have a sense of community, which we now desperately lack
in Britain. And I thought I recognised it here. Maybe that's why I enjoyed
being here very much. It surprised me how much I relished being here. They
had to literally drag me away at the end, to stop me filming any more."
You've made references to "classic Indian film storytelling", described both
Amitabh and Rahman to western journalists as being "as big as Michael
Jackson plus Tom Cruise plus Michael Phelps combined". How familiar are you
with what classic Indian film stories are all about? You watched Taal for
Rahman's
music<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/What_I_got_back_from_India_was_ten-fold/articleshow/3874718.cms#>,
but what else? "I watched Taal also for Anil Kapoor's act," he is quick to
point. "That's a fantastic performance, it's very big and still manages to
stay within the film, that's a great skill. And Anil, he's genuinely one of
the big actors in the world, I think. He was very nervous initially about
working in his first English film, but he's a very special actor. We talk
the same language, as in he understands cinema the way I do."
How many others do? "There's actually a lot of talent here, you know, and we
tried to use as much of it as possible. There are some wonderful actors like
Irrfan Khan. I'm a big fan of Anurag Kashyap, of his Black Friday. Then, we
were lucky to have Saurabh Shukla, he's part of Slumdog but he's also
scripted this great movie with Anurag, Satya. I also loved Company." He's
obviously been exploring Mumbai's underbelly for some time. But there's
more. "I saw Aamir Khan's film on dyslexia, with that kid. I really enjoyed
that film. He's a very fine filmmaker. And that is one of the world's great
performances by a child in a film. I know what I'm talking about here,
because I've directed quite a few films with kids." Not seen anything older
in Indian cinema, have you? "No, no, I have watched a lot of films. One of
my favourites is one from which we've used excerpts in the film. It's Ram
Balram." Ram Balram? "Ya, an extraordinary film, what a film that is!"
Danny's watched Ram Balram? Well... whatever!
What changed after 26/11? "I'll put it this way... About a week after the
attacks, we had a screening in London, for a Hindi speaking audience. And
when we came to the final scene at VT, which is so unashamedly about the
healing power of love – I was very proud of that scene, I was so very proud
to have made the film here... Not that it can do anything to anybody's pain
or hurt, because that's much greater than any film can be, but I was very
proud that VT's last appearance in the film is about the power of love, and
about what I felt was my overall impression of the city."
You've spoken of how India is a country of extremes, of the fight for basic
amenities while the country looks to send a man on the moon. What's the
essence of it that's stayed with you? "More important than all the political
things, is the heart of the country. The generosity with which people helped
me was extraordinary. I think they felt I came with the right approach, and
what they gave back to me was ten-fold. And when you meet people like that,
you think the future of the country will be good. In however imperfect a
way, it's moving towards happiness."
You've talked about how the Indian experience was all about things like
organised chaos, absence of control, going from a very typically Brit
'controlled filmmaking' paradigm to saying things like "this was meant to
happen" in a very karmic sort of tone. Have you, as a person, been changed
by the whole experience of doing this project in India? He responds with an
emphatic, "Yes. Yes! I never thought I would come around to saying that, but
I did. You learn that there are sometimes things that you can't explain, and
as a Westerner, you're often desperate to explain everything rationally, and
that's not an approach that necessarily helps you through everything. I
learnt a lot about myself, in lots of ways that surprised me, really..."
Such as? "I loved the way of approaching a film here. Although I only really
know Mumbai, not the rest of India, even though I went to Agra, Delhi,
Calcutta, Bangalore for small bits and for the casting... I loved the fact
that the things you rely on in the West, control, repetition, continuity...
all those things, they don't help you here. At least they don't help you in
making this sort of film. You have to go with the energy of the city. And
although you sacrifice certain things, like continuity, what you gain in
return is a sense of real people in a real place. I come from a British
tradition of filmmaking which is very realistic. The amount of detail, real
detail on offer in India, in Mumbai, is a dream come true for a director.
You're never bored, you know, you just never are..." He trails off, goes
quiet for a moment and then chuckles, "You know, I think I'm going to find
it hard to go back and make a film in the West after this!" So why not make
it here again? "I'd like to make a film in India again, I don't know if I
will, but I would like to."
No wonder you're leaving it open, Danny – you recently made the point that
while Woody Allen said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your
plans, in India the difference is that there are thousands of gods, and they
all roar collectively with laughter when they hear your plans! "Yes, I
myself felt that was a very good way of putting it", says Danny, as he
bursts into laughter. "But seriously, it's really a very good note for any
director coming here, because one tends to plan and control – and in India,
the most important quality is not your plans, not your control, but your
openness. That's the most important thing."
lDanny Boyle is the English film director and producer, best known for his
work on films such as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and now...
Slumdog Millionaire.
lThe film tells the story of how impoverished Mumbai slumkid Jamal Malik
becomes a contestant on
KBC<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/What_I_got_back_from_India_was_ten-fold/articleshow/3874718.cms#>in
an effort to prove his love for his friend Latika, who is an ardent
fan
of the show.
lThe movie has bagged four Golden Globe nominations, and has already picked
up 20 awards last week, including those for music
director<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/What_I_got_back_from_India_was_ten-fold/articleshow/3874718.cms#>AR
Rahman, British Indian actor Dev Patel and child artiste Ayush Mahesh
Khedekar. It's won the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay,
Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Score (Rahman) from the San
Diego Film Critics Society.
The film has been named in Time magazine's list of Top Ten Films of 2008,
won Best Picture and Best Director awards from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film
Critics Association as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay from the
Houston Film Critics Society. The St Louis Film Critics Association gave it
the Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film awards, while the
Southeastern Film Critics Association chose it for Best Director and Best
Adapted Screenplay. It has also earned six nominations for the Chicago Film
Critics Awards, including Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay,
Cinematography, Score, and Most Promising Performer (Dev).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/What_I_got_back_from_India_was_ten-fold/articleshow/3874718.cms
--
regards,
Vithur
