How true! cm
REFLECTED GLORY After chasing Deepa Mehta out, India smells an opportunity to take credit. Sonia Faleiro India is never shy of claiming successful Indians - even those who hold citizenship elsewhere - as entirely her own. It's not surprising then that filmmaker Deepa Mehta's Water is seen by some as our best hope at the Oscars. Never mind that Mehta is Canadian, and that Water was literally chased out of, and blacklisted, in the nation that is now intent on bathing in its accolades. In 2000, Hindu fundamentalists stormed the sets of Water in Varanasi, threatening to beat Mehta "black and blue". She postponed production, and two films later, completed the final episode of her trilogy in Sri Lanka. India supported Mehta with death threats, warnings of arrest, and mutilated freedom of expression. However, now that it's time to revel in reflected glory, India seems to have forgotten that it failed Mehta when she needed it most. Should she win, as Canada's entry to the Oscars, there will be, no doubt, boasts of how Bollywood is conquering the world. Contrast that with the fact that until recently Water had neither a distributor nor a confirmed release date here. Let's hope that any euphoria over Mehta's "Indian" achievement is matched with equal support of her work being peacefully seen, and that she understands and forgives our schizophrenic reactions. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
