Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 An Interview with Actor And Director, Nandita Das By Swarnendu Biswas © Naaree.com www.naaree.com Page 1 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 Her razor-sharp intellect and uncommon sensitivity towards social issues complement her enchanting beauty and compelling aesthetic talent. But while talking to Nandita Das it was very difficult to comprehend the gravity of the fact that I was conversing with a world-renowned actress and director, for she lets the weight of her astonishing achievements and enviable fame sit lightly on her slim, elegant and strong shoulders. Her unassuming and easy going personality belies the fact that she is one of the most critically acclaimed actresses of serious Indian cinema of our times, and also the fact that her maiden directorial effort has made the world of cinema to sit up and recognise the arrival of a new cinematic genius from India; a country whose film repertoire is even now by and large perceived by overtly melodramatic and utterly mediocre mainstream Bollywood fare. Casually Famous Even the immense significance of the fact that the French Government had conferred her with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), one of the most prestigious civilian awards in the world, in 2008, for her contribution to art and culture, hasn’t infused any hint of arrogance into her friendly personality. In this context, it also deserves a mention here that, in 2011, Nandita became the first Indian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Women’s Forum. The honour recognises Nandita's “sustained contributions to the arts and to the world as one of the most gripping cinema arts leaders of our time who has shown us what both-feet-on-the- floor authenticity looks like and how keeping your values in focus and applying your talent can fuel women and the world forward,” said IWF in a statement. Despite having a journalistic experience of more than one-and-a-half decades and the experience of doing numerous stories and interviewing a galaxy of celebrities behind me, my voice trembled like a newbie as I asked www.naaree.com Page 2 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 my first question to the tall and elegant embodiment of inspired aesthetic vision sitting before me, dressed in a casual blue jeans and a white top. The lady with a refreshing smile that flows like a cascade, however soon put me at ease. In fact, her apparent softness belies her tremendous strength of conviction within. Nandita has always had the courage and the conviction to tread the uncommon path, provided that path leads to the fulfillment of her social sensibilities and her aesthetic conscience. As far as her film career goes, she has chosen those films which she believed in. Her revolutionary streak is reflected by the fact that in only her second film as an actress she essayed the role of a newly married woman who gets involved with her sister-in-law in a loving lesbian relationship, a relationship which fulfilled the characters’ need for the love and passion which they couldn’t find in their oppressive and claustrophobic conventional marital relationships with their respective spouses. www.naaree.com Page 3 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 Playing With Fire Fire, which was released in India in 1998 (the film was made in 1996), can be regarded as a watershed film in the Indian context, where three awesome cinematic talents (Deepa Mehta, the director of the film, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, the two female leads of the film) managed to make an extremely potent and path-breaking commentary on the feudalistic character of Indian arranged marriages (a great majority of them, at least), and at the same time on the exploration of the evolving gender equation in modern day India. Fire is probably the first feature film which was brave enough to explore the radical concept of female homosexuality in the regressive backdrop of urban Indian social milieu. Fire not only gave Nandita international acclaim at the early stage of her career, but also helped her grow into a more evolved person. “Fire made me a more open and less judgmental person. My own sensitivity towards what we perceive as the 'other' grew,” says the lady as she brushes aside her locks of hair from her vibrant visage. The film ran to full houses in most metropolitan cities throughout India for almost three weeks, but soon the violent protests against this revolutionary film surfaced. The film, as was expected, created quite a bit of social outrage that quickly snowballed into a series of violent incidents perpetrated by the self-styled moral police of Indian society, on many of the cinema halls screening this revolutionary movie. However, despite the moral policing by self-righteous Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal workers, the film’s international fame continued to grow, and Fire went on to become a post-modern classic. “Through the wide range of questions and comments that I encountered after the screening of Fire, I was appalled to see how prejudiced and intolerant our society was,” declares Nandita. Unfortunately, the attitude of our society, where hackneyed mindsets are predominant, still hasn’t www.naaree.com Page 4 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 changed much, after 15 years. Nandita says that she takes every opportunity to dispel unfounded myths on homosexuality that prevail in our society. Fire also did awaken Nandita to the power of cinema, and induced her to take cinema seriously as a passion and profession. “While I never wanted to be an actor, Fire showed me how the medium of cinema could be a powerful instrument for public debate and advocacy. After the experience with Fire, I found a new platform and a creative medium to express myself,” articulates the great lady. www.naaree.com Page 5 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 Theatre of Conscience Nandita’s artistic exploration has a history of being influenced by the burning concerns of society. Born in New Delhi, to the celebrated painter Jatin Das and the noted writer, Varsha Das, Nandita’s early sensitivity towards society is perhaps reflected in her choosing to do a Master’s degree in social work. After her Master’s in social work from the Delhi School of Social Work, she begun working with an NGO called Ankur, that works with women in the slums of Delhi. Her stint with Ankur was followed by her work with Alarippu; an organisation which is engaged in making education enjoyable for children from underprivileged homes. “The various realities which I got exposed to during my work with NGOs did impact my choices in films, both consciously and instinctively,” articulates Nandita. Her acting forays began with a street theatre group named Jana Natya Manch, which was started by the late revolutionary playwright, Safdar Hashmi, where she also propagated several social causes through her acting skills. However, she doesn’t take her theatre background too seriously. “Many feel that I have come from a theatre background but doing street theatre and amateur plays during my college days cannot be counted for any great foundation in theatre,” explains Nandita candidly. “The reasons for doing those street plays for four years were less to do with acting and much more to do with the social issues that those plays raised. Those plays in some ways induced me to pursue my Master’s in social work,” admits Nandita. She also modestly says that she has “worked on only two professional plays, which are The Spirit of Anne Frank, and Heads Ya Tails,” before embarking on to act and direct her own theatre production. This trained social worker and actress notes that she entered the film world by “default.” However, despite not being armed with any formal www.naaree.com Page 6 Naaree Interviews Nandita Das February 2013 training in either acting or direction, Nandita, with her spontaneous talent, managed to create new milestones in both the spheres. Today, Nandita with an impressive repertoire of 37 films (many of them award-winning ones) in 10 different languages — English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Urdu, Marathi, Oriya and Kannada and Rajasthani —is an icon in the realm of Indian cinema. Between the Lines Nandita is happy to return to the stage after eight years with her maiden theatre production titled Between the Lines, that was recently staged across various cities of India. Despite knowing very well that theatre and films are two entirely different mediums, and despite having much less experience in theatre as compared to her rich and varied experience in cinema, she took on the enormous challenge of co-writing, directing, producing and acting in this play. It is the exceptional people like Nandita who always have the courage to experiment with new forms, styles and mediums. “It was both challenging and exciting to explore the medium of theatre, that is comparatively new for me, but I have always enjoyed doing new things without the fear of failure. For instance, I directed Firaaq without any formal training in film direction and learnt a lot in the process. I like to dabble in different things and will continue to do so,” asserts the courageous lady with a soft smile that never fails to reflect a sense of tenderness. Her ardent love for experimentation and the absence of fear for failure is shared by her present entrepreneur husband, Subodh Maskara (she was divorced from her first husband Saumya Sen in 2009), and these attributes, together with Nandita’s love for stage acting before a live audience, has compelled the couple to start their own production company named Chhoti Production Company Pvt.