Salman Rushdie on bringing Midnight's Children to the big screen

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Salman Rushdie a Lily Rothman, pubblicata ieri da Time. Salman Rushdie on bringing Midnight’s Children to the big screen:

'Why now, a movie version of Midnight’s Children?

I had actually more or less given up on the idea that there would ever be a film of Midnight’s Children. After all, it’s rather an old book. [Director] Deepa Mehta and I had dinner together in Toronto at the time of the publication of The Enchantress of Florence. We were talking about this and that, and possible collaborations, and discussing other novels of mine that she was interested in. And then suddenly, out of the blue, she asked about Midnight’s Children and did I have the rights. I said I did, and she said, “Can I do that instead?”

You make it sound very easy.

It took 30 years for it to be easy.

Was the plan always for you to write the screenplay?

No. In fact, initially, I said I didn’t want to. I, more or less straightforwardly, refused to do it. I thought I’d written this already. One of the things I’ve learned in the last four or five years is that if Deepa wants something badly enough, in the end she gets it.

She was determined...

She went on and on at me about it. In the end, I agreed to do it for a number of reasons. One, it was the first of my books to be filmed. Given that I loved movies, and here’s a movie being made of my book, probably it’s a good idea to dive in. I thought I might enjoy that, I might learn something from it, that it might be fun. Also, because the novel was written so long ago, I was able to be distant from it in the way that I would need to be. (...)

Were there any scenes you particularly enjoyed writing?

There’s a scene that doesn’t exist in the novel. In the novel, Shiva, Saleem’s alter-ego - who was swapped with him as a baby - never finds out about the baby-swap. In the movie, I thought, if you’re going to do something as Bollywood melodramatic as swapping babies at birth, at some point, the swapped babies have to confront each other. If I’d been sharp enough 30 years ago, I would have included that scene in the novel. (...)

Were you very involved in creative decisions during filming?

The thing I didn’t do is, I didn’t go on the shoot. I thought, I know enough about movies to know only one person directs. I also know that if you’re on a movie set without a very specific job to do, you’re the most annoying person there. And it’s also really boring. But before, and after the shoot, I was quite involved. One of the things I think is quite wonderful in the film is the production design by Dilip Mehta, Deepa’s brother. I showed him a lot of old photographs of my family so that he could get the look of that time right. I made the mistake of telling Deepa that when we were children in my grandparents’ house, one of the things that really scared us was that my grandmother had a very terrifying flock of geese. When I saw the rushes, I realized to my horror that there were the damn geese in the movie!

What was it like the first time you saw a complete version?

The first rough cut was well over four hours long. I felt that it was there, but at that point, you’re in work mode and all you see is what’s wrong. It’s the same when I’m writing a book; if I write a draft of something, when I look at that draft, I’m looking for what’s wrong and how I can fix it. Then there was a moment - Deepa keeps reminding me that I burst into tears at this point, which maybe I did and maybe I didn’t - where we saw a cut, and I felt that everything that had finally come together.

What’s it like seeing the movie with an audience?

That’s been what’s been most interesting to me. Deepa and I have now seen the film, like, 400 times each, and we don’t really need to see it again. But what I do when I sit in screenings is, I watch the audience. We showed it at [the Telluride Film Festival, where it premiered last August], and when the lights came up, there was a gentleman sitting next to me who had tears on his face. I said to him that I was sorry I made him cry - which was a lie, by the way. I was not sorry I made him cry. I was rather pleased I’d made him cry. And he said this sweet thing, he said, “No, don’t be sorry, because these are tears of beauty.” I thought, Can I take that and put it on the poster, please?

And when you’re writing a book you don’t get to see people crying or laughing.

It’s quite true. People are always telling me that they’ve seen people reading my books on the subway, or the beach, or whenever. Other people tell me they see it all the time, but somehow the world is so orchestrated that I never get to see it. So this time, of course, it’s been very delightful to actually be able to watch from the back of the hall'.

Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola : Recensione

 

[Blog] Recensione di Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola (2013), il nuovo film di Vishal Bhardwaj. Con Pankaj Kapoor, Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma, Shabana Azmi e Arya Babbar.

Priyanka Chopra: spot Nikon COOLPIX S6500

Vi segnalo lo spot Nikon COOLPIX S6500 diretto da Tarun Mansukhani e interpretato da Priyanka Chopra.

Hindi pulp fiction

Vi segnalo un favoloso articolo dedicato alla paraletteratura in lingua hindi (e urdu), in particolare di genere poliziesco e di spionaggio: A peek into the noir world of Hindi pulp fiction, di Aasheesh Sharma, pubblicato da Brunch il 7 aprile 2013. Scopriamo i nomi di punta:

* Amit Khan, classe 1972, più di cento titoli all'attivo. Il suo eroe più amato: Karan Saxena, agente dei servizi segreti.

* Ved Prakash Sharma, classe 1955, più di 150 titoli all'attivo. La sua eroina più amata: Vibha Jindal, ricca ereditiera e detective. Il suo maggior successo: Vardi Wala Gunda, che agli inizi degli anni novanta vendette più di un milione e mezzo di copie. Dai romanzi Lallu e Suhag Se Bada sono stati tratti i film Sabse Bada Khiladi e International Khiladi interpretati da Akshay Kumar.

* Surender Mohan Pathak, classe 1940, più di 250 titoli all'attivo. Il suo eroe più amato: Surender Singh Sohal alias Vimal, un audace ladro. Adorato da Anurag Kashyap, è il primo autore pulp hindi tradotto in inglese. Nel 2010 Time lo qualificò a pulp fiction master.

* Veena Sharma, più di 500 titoli all'attivo. La sua eroina più amata: Reema Bharti, una sorta di Mata Hari indiana.

* Ibn-e-Safi (1928-1980). Il suo eroe più amato: il colonnello Faridi alias colonnello Vinod, affascinante, solitario e spericolato. Safi è apprezzato da Javed Akhtar, e fu giudicato l'unico giallista asiatico davvero originale da Agatha Christie. 

Negli anni sessanta del secolo scorso, le case editrici di Allahabad attirarono gli scrittori più promettenti del periodo: Rajhans, Ibn-e-Safi, Gulshan Nanda e Ved Prakash Kamboj. Negli anni settanta, alcuni romanzi di Nanda ispirarono pellicole quali Kati Patang, Khilona e Daag. A partire dagli anni settanta, Meerut ha sostituito Allahabad, ed è oggi il centro di pubblicazione di questo genere di paraletteratura. Da qualche decennio si registra un decremento costante nei profitti, ma il mercato comunque regge grazie anche al prezzo contenuto dei volumi, che vengono venduti principalmente nelle stazioni ferroviarie e degli autobus. 

Aggiornamento dell'11 agosto 2022: Ved Prakash Sharma è purtroppo deceduto nel 2017.

 

Amit Khan

 

Surender Mohan Pathak

 

Vardi Wala Gunda

Lallu

Kay Kay Menon: 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema

Ieri è stato distribuito Udhayam NH4, film tamil diretto dall'esordiente Manimaran, interpretato da Siddharth e da Kay Kay Menon (al suo debutto a Kollywood). Vetri Maaran ha collaborato alla sceneggiatura. Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Kay Kay a Shobha Warrier, pubblicata da Rediff il 18 aprile 2013. Kay Kay Menon: 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema:

'What was your initial reaction when Vetri Maaran and Manimaran came to you with the script of Udhayam NH4?

The first time I met Vetri and Mani, I found that they were contemporary film makers, modern in their thinking and not orthodox in any sense. They had a unique sense of cinema. So, that was quite exciting for me and made me say 'yes' to their project. (...)

What impressed you about the story and the film-maker?

It has to do with the film-maker and not the story. A simple love story can be made into an interesting film if the film-maker can think differently. For me, the film-maker is more important than the story. What impressed me was his extremely modern way of thinking about cinema. The conversation I had with the film-maker was very interesting. (...) Only someone who thinks out of the box excites me. (...)

What kind of films do you believe in?

I believe in cinema! Unfortunately, 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema. Only marketing works here. Even the item songs in these films are an extension of marketing. (...) You must have certain integrity to make cinema. Unfortunately, in 90 per cent of cases only the marketing mind of the director works and not the creative mind. 

Has your idea of cinema changed over the years?

Certainly, it has evolved over a period of time, as you see more films and work in more films. Once you are working in films, you learn a lot more about cinema. It is connected to your thought process and like any thought process this also evolves after a period of time. After 16 years of working here, now I have a clear idea about what is cinema and what is non-cinema. (...) Where lots of money is involved in film-making do you see marketing governing the film. 

Many film-makers say that unlike writing or painting, a lot of money is involved in the making of a film, and it is necessary that they get the money back.

I don't agree with this argument. Nobody can use that as an excuse to make trash. Money can be used for a good purpose as well. That is a lame excuse for those who have no talent but have money. But if you have talent, you will use money very well and for the uplift of cinema. Like you can use money for eradication of poverty, you can use money to remove the poverty of mind in cinema. I feel it is the duty of the film-maker to try and uplift cinema and the mindset of the audience. If you give only trash all the time, the mindset of the audience also will not change. They will never evolve into good cinema viewers. (...)

Is the satisfaction you derive from cinema more important than money?

It is to do with legitimacy. You can earn money in any way but you have to have peace of mind too. What I do is only with good intention. That is more important than earning money for me. Fortunately, good cinema has increased in Hindi. So, we can have some hope that audiences are maturing.

Once you started acting in Udhayam NH4 were you happy with the way it was made?

I was very happy with working in this film. While making the film, we were evolving every day and creating new things. A genuine moment has no expiry date and this film has many genuine moments. 

What exactly impressed you about the way the film was made?

The whole process of thinking out of the box impressed me. It is like if you give a simple story to a mediocre film-maker and a brilliant film-maker you will see how different the films will be. You see a brilliant film-maker blossoming in front of you, improvising and growing. In the case of this film, once we started shooting, it went up by 10-15 notches.

Do you understand Tamil well?

I understand Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi but I can't read and write them. My policy is that I work only in films the language of which I understand even if I can't speak it. If you don't understand the language, you will only be mouthing the dialogues the assistant director tells you. Then, you will only be a dummy kind of actor, which I don't like. 

Was it enjoyable to shoot in real locations?

Shooting in real locations gives you a lot of possibilities. For example, the script may say the Jeep travels in one direction, stops, and the driver looks in one direction. Now, when in a real location, there are so many possibilities that you can use, like a dog running in front of you, or a tree or trees in that area. You will improvise according to the location and that becomes an interesting feeling for an actor.  

What kind of an actor are you? Do you internalise the character?

All acting is internal; there is nothing external which, according to me, is hamming. Even if you are playing a loud character, that is also an internal process. Each actor has a way of internalising. 

Has any character you played refused to leave you?

I let them live their own lives. I call them back whenever I require them! It's all about exploring your self. And I enjoy the process. Most actors are fake and they get away with hamming because of marketing. It has nothing to do with what you do in a film; it's all about marketing. 

Are you against marketing?

I am not as long as it doesn't intrude into cinema. I am also not against item numbers if it has something to do with the film. But if it spoils the film viewing, I am not for it. You cannot adulterate a film by forcing item numbers etc into it. A marketing guy cannot enter into the film; he can only be outside the film'. 

Aamir Khan: Time 29 aprile 2013

Il numero del 29 aprile 2013 di Time è dedicato alle cento persone più influenti del pianeta. Il numero prevede sette diverse copertine, una delle quali è dedicata ad Aamir Khan. Aamir rientra nella categoria pionieri, occupa la 48esima posizione ed è introdotto da una breve presentazione firmata da A.R. Rahman:

'About 13 years ago, Aamir Khan, the producer and lead actor of the Bollywood film Lagaan, was sitting outside my studio as I was writing the film’s main choral theme. After he heard it, he came in with moist eyes. “A.R., what a great feeling this is,” he said. “My movie is made now!” I saw a childlike honesty in his eyes. In a world of false diplomacy and evasiveness, Aamir is a straightforward man. A man of his word. His movies are commercial successes - Lagaan was nominated for an Academy Award - but they also display a sense of social responsibility: they tackle important themes, like poverty and education. His TV show, Satyamev Jayate, is part journalism and part talk show, and it confronts India’s deepest social ills, from sexual abuse to caste discrimination. He uses his gifts as a charmer to give his audience the most bitter medicine. Hypnotized, we take it without complaint. That’s Aamir’s magic at work. Satyamev Jayate was not intended to provide solutions but to ask hard questions, the kind society is often reluctant to address. By showing the courage to ask those questions, Aamir has started a movement that will help change the world in which Indians live'.

 

Salman Rushdie talks 'Midnight's children', other projects

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Salman Rushdie a Katie Van Syckle, pubblicata oggi da Rolling Stone. Salman Rushdie talks ‘Midnight’s Children’, other projects:

'Did you feel comfortable writing a screenplay?

I’ve written screenplays before, they just haven’t been made. There was an idea to make a movie of my novel The Ground Beneath her Feet, but it didn’t come to anything. I actually spent my younger days writing advertising commercials, and I’ve written a lot of very short scripts, too. My way of writing a screenplay is you close your eyes and watch the movie in your head, then you open your eyes and write it down.

Have you wanted to adapt Midnight’s Children for a while?

No. In fact, I hadn’t been thinking about it at all. It was a happy series of accidents that brought it into being. But if I were to do it again, I’d prefer to write original material for the screen, instead of adapting.

You also helped adapt the book for a Royal Shakespeare Company production. How was that project different from this one?

The stage version wasn’t that much help in the end. The way the novel is written, Saleem, the hero, narrates the story retrospectively to a woman who works in the pickle factory where he’s ended up. On the stage, you can do that. But on screen, I thought it would seem intrusive to constantly cut back to a couple of people talking. It would break the audience’s emotional connection to the story. So I had to completely rethink it for the screen.

What movies were you thinking about when you wrote this treatment?

The great [Luchino] Visconti film, The Leopard. It also has this quality of epic action and revolution, combined with a very intimate family story at its heart. We thought we needed to find that tone of voice, one that allowed us to move from intimacy to epic. Another was a great film by the Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi called Ugetsu, which means “ghost.” That gave us some clues on how to handle the magical realism part of the story. The thing that is interesting about Ugetsu is that the ghost isn’t treated in a ghostly way. The ghost is treated as a character. We thought there was a clue there. If we had these magic children, when they appeared, they would have to behave - and be shot - to look like a real group of children. 

You’re no stranger to appearing in movies, too. My favorite is your cameo in Bridget Jones’ Diary.

You know, acting was always my unscratched itch, when I was in college and even afterwards. It was the only other thing I seriously thought about doing with my life. I probably made the right decision by not going that way, but every so often, that itch does recur, and if I have a chance to scratch it, I will.

How much were you influenced by Indian cinema?

We both, Deepa [Mehta] more than I, are steeped in Indian cinema, and it did help us with the casting. Siddharth, who plays Saleem’s alter ego, Shiva, and the actor Shriya Saran, who plays Parvati the Witch, are big stars in South Indian cinema. The boy who plays the younger Saleem, Darsheel Safary, was somebody that I saw in the Aamir Khan movie Like Stars on Earth a couple years ago. There’s a scene in the film where Saleem follows his mother to this café, and while he’s watching her, on his right, there’s a giant poster of the movie Mother India, which is a deliberate reference to that iconic film, a kind of Indian Gone With the Wind. In some ways, our film is about Mother India, too. 

Did you visit the set and watch dailies?

No. At that time, Deepa and I developed a relationship of real trust. I just said to her, go make the film, and I’ll see you in the cutting room.

Which scenes were the most difficult to write?

The last third of the film gets dark - there are some violent interrogation and torture scenes. Those were very tough to write. Oddly, the solution I found was to write the dialogue of the torturers almost like black comedy. There’s a little touch of Quentin Tarantino in there, a little bit of Reservoir Dogs. 

Your next project is The Next People, a Showtime science fiction series. Where are you with that?

I did three drafts of a script, and they declared themselves to be very happy. But at this point, there is no green light, so we just wait.

Are you interested in a career move towards television?

The sixty-minute drama form has become very rich. There is so much good work going on in that area, almost novelistic work. I’ve been tempted, but we’ll see.

Which shows are your favorites?

I have to say, that after some initial resistance, I’m now a complete Game of Thrones addict. 

Who is your favorite character?

I’m very proud of the fact that we got Charles Dance into Midnight’s Children to play William Methwold. We actually have the head of the Lannister dynasty in our movie!'

Incroci di Civiltà 2013

La sesta edizione del festival letterario internazionale Incroci di Civiltà si svolgerà a Venezia dal 10 al 13 aprile 2013. Amitav Ghosh interverrà in chiusura, il 13 aprile, a partire dalle ore 18.00, al Teatro Goldoni, accompagnato dalla traduttrice Anna Nadotti. Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Ghosh a Goffredo Fofi, pubblicata oggi da Il Sole 24 Ore. India e Italia popoli antifragili:

'Nell'arco di tre decenni, Amitav Ghosh si è affermato come il maggior scrittore indiano di lingua inglese della sua generazione, peraltro ricca di nomi importanti, perché ha saputo coniugare nella letteratura - nel romanzo - istanze che molte ideologie critiche contemporanee dicevano superate: l'ambizione a creare storie ampie e articolate con personaggi e vicende che esprimessero le contraddizioni del nostro tempo, sia quando si riferivano a un preciso passato (le radici del presente), sia quando si soffermavano su un oggi tutto da interpretare, sia quando recuperavano canoni antichi di fiaba e di avventura. Amitav Ghosh, ormai uno squisito signore di mezza età che ricordiamo giovanissimo ai suoi primi passaggi italiani, quando venne scoperto e lanciato da Garzanti sulla scia del successo dei romanzi di Rushdie, è ospite della città di Venezia per il festival «Incroci di civiltà» e ha gentilmente risposto alle domande che gli ho posto, la prima delle quali riguardava proprio questo soggiorno. «Sono coinvolto in un progetto che riguarda il Ghetto veneziano e il suo ruolo nella storia delle relazioni interculturali - ha risposto - è un progetto in fieri, al quale cercherò di dare un contributo sul quale sto ancora meditando».

La mia curiosità sui suoi modelli letterari, sia indiani che occidentali, è da sempre molto grande, ed è cresciuta con la lettura dei primi due volumi della «trilogia dell'ibis», o «dell'oppio», edita in Italia da Neri Pozza. Ghosh si presta gentilmente a ricostruire il suo percorso vocazionale anche se, dice, «è difficile rispondere a una domanda su modelli e influenze» perché per lui «la scrittura è iniziata con la lettura», spiega. «Sono un avido lettore fin dall'infanzia, quando leggevo sia in inglese sia in bengalese. In seguito ho letto anche in altre lingue. Come scrittore, sono una sorta di "gazza ladra". Ho avuto la grande e singolare fortuna di essere stato esposto a molte diverse tradizioni e forme di scrittura, che mi hanno tutte influenzato in un modo o nell'altro». 

Ma perché - cosa inusuale se non tra scrittori spesso dozzinali - tanto interesse per il «romanzo storico»? «Molti dei romanzieri che ammiro hanno scritto romanzi storici. Sono sempre stato affascinato dalla storia - anche quando ero bambino. Lo scrittore bengalese che mi piaceva di più era Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, un autore di romanzi storici le cui storie vertevano su un ragazzo di nome Sadashib - oggi la chiameremmo narrativa "young-adult". Amavo leggere anche Walter Scott quando ero adolescente. A scuola passavo ore immerso nella lettura di Scott. Ma la cosa interessante è che anche Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay leggeva Walter Scott, quindi non è che le due tradizioni possano essere separate in modo rigoroso. Analogamente, è evidente che Scott era a sua volta influenzato dai romanzi medievali e dai racconti di cavalleria, molti dei quali debitori delle tradizioni narrative asiatiche (Scott di fatto rivisita alcuni famosi racconti arabi su Saladino). Ancora una volta siamo di fronte a un gioco di intrecci - un gioco che nell'opera di scrittori moderni come Borges e Calvino diventa esplicito. Per tutte queste ragioni mi è quasi impossibile parlare di modelli e influenze, che cambiano di libro in libro, di capitolo in capitolo, di pagina in pagina. Mentre scrivevo il mio ultimo libro, Il fiume dell'oppio, il romanzo che mi ha ispirato di più è stato Zayni Barakat. I misteri del Cairo di Gamal al-Ghitani. Parla del Cairo nel Diciottesimo secolo, e ciò che lo rende interessante è l'uso di editti e proclami, la voce ufficiale della storia per così dire. L'uso che ne fa l'autore mi ha conquistato e mentre scrivevo era una delle cose che avevo in mente».

Tra i temi che sembrano stare più a cuore a Ghosh ci sono il recupero di un rapporto con la natura, oltre la violenza che la modernità le ha riservato, e di una dimensione comunitaria dell'esistenza umana, due modi, infine, di esprimere una critica del potere. E tutto questo ha un evidente rapporto con un altro tema che sembra star molto a cuore al nostro scrittore, quello del rapporto tra i fini e i mezzi, dei mezzi che si staccano dai fini, e si rendono autonomi - non è un discorso nuovo. Ma come è possibile oggi per la letteratura riconquistare il terreno di una riflessione etica e filosofica e tornare a parlare dei dilemmi fondamentali dell'esistenza e del dovere di «non accettazione» del mondo così com'è, o di come il potere dell'economia e della tecnologia - che hanno nei suoi romanzi sfondi necessariamente "imperiali" - vorrebbero che fosse? 

Ghosh non si spaventa per questa domanda eccessivamente impegnativa, ma preferisce riportare il discorso sul terreno più specifico della storia. E del romanzo storico. «L'imperialismo - dice -, è stato certamente la realtà politica dominante dell'India del diciannovesimo secolo, ed è impossibile schivarlo in qualsiasi opera ambientata in quel periodo. Sarebbe come scrivere della Venezia medievale senza citare le Crociate. Ma è importante ricordare che l'imperialismo è stato solo uno degli aspetti della realtà indiana: nello stesso momento le persone vivevano, ridevano, amavano, come le persone fanno ovunque e in qualsiasi circostanza politica. Quando rivolgo lo sguardo a quel secolo, a colpirmi è la resilienza, la resistenza, la volontà di cambiamento e la determinazione di imparare. Come i lettori hanno potuto constatare, ci sono tantissime storie che si dipanano simultaneamente in libri come Mare di papaveri e Il fiume dell'oppio che è impossibile imporre un'unica interpretazione a questo viaggio collettivo. Ma riconoscere che il passato è complicato non significa voltargli le spalle, o per vergogna o per desiderio di guardare avanti. Una delle ragioni è che il colonialismo non appartiene al passato, anche nel subcontinente indiano. Il Pakistan, ad esempio, è in una situazione in cui una forma di ricolonizzazione è una possibilità concreta. L'attuale incarnazione dell'Impero è straordinariamente simile a quella antica, con le sue isole prigioni, la sua vasta rete di carceri, e soprattutto l'instancabile sbandieramento delle sue buone intenzioni».'

ABC, AnyBodyCan... fall in love (Ripassiamo l'alfabeto con Gilda)

[Centenary of Indian Cinema] Gilda, indomabile bollywoodiana tosta, festeggia il centesimo compleanno del cinema indiano con un personale alfabeto semi - serio. ABC, AnyBodyCan... fall in love.