By Azra Dawood

You need not read any further if you are already familiar with this multi-hyphenated term: ‘multi-racial multi-cultural eco-supershero action figures’. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s probably because you are not yet familiar with Shalini Kantayya [top during the making of Manthan] – film director, storyteller and activist.

Shalini is Indian and grew up in the US, but as she puts it, came of age in India. She is a documentarian and a fiction director as well as an activist. She attended Hampshire College in Massachusetts where she studied human rights. She then worked in installation art for a brief period, during which she discovered her love for film. And this in turn led her to a Masters in Film program at City College New York. This combined interest in activism and films has led to a refreshing blend of work which includes documentaries and short films such as Manthan (a documentary about the Kumbh Festival in India), A Drop of Life (a speculative fiction film about the privatization of water in India and its effects on a group of villagers) and Bombay Longing (a short poetic film about a Desi queer in India).

Shalini is the recipient of a William D. Fulbright Fellowship. Manthan received the first prize award for best documentary at the Asian American Film Institute Festival in New York. Shalini has also received recognition from the New York Women in Film and Television, the Third Wave Foundation, and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. Her films have been screened at multiple international film festivals. And she is the founder of 7th Empire / Amma Films – an independent film distribution and production company.

EGO columnist Azra Dawood interviews this articulate, talented and very busy filmmaker.

AD: Why films?
SK: Um, good question. Most days I wish I could do something else, anything else. But the truth is (at the risk of sounding corny) I fell in love with images. There was actually a moment, when I was in a Tibetan monastery in Bylakuppe (South India), and I was in a sea of hundreds of monks praying. I was acutely aware that they were recreating their culture in exile, and in that moment, I felt like there were things that I could not express in words. And before I knew anything about iris or aperture, I began to put imaginary picture frames over everything I saw. I actually began to rediscover my sense of sight, and see the world in a new way. That was ten years ago. And while I often describe my relationship with film as rocky and sometimes abusive, I am still in love with the medium and its power to inspire, educate, and move people.

AD: So would you say that the love of images (and therefore of film) came about as a result of stories that you wished to tell and messages that you wished to get across? Or did the [love for the] medium come first?
SK: Why does anyone fall in love? Isn't it always a little irrational? My love for the image was just that - impulsive, passionate, all-encompassing and without reason. But my love for visual storytelling also became integrated with my love for human rights. I always considered myself a humanist & was always inspired by stories of ordinary people who overcome seemingly insurmountable hardships. These are the stories I like to tell... And as the media becomes increasingly corporate-controlled, I believe that telling these stories is more important than ever.

AD: How/why is your relationship with film rocky and abusive?
SK: It takes all my money. It takes all my time. And it rarely permits me to see other people!

AD: If not film, then what? Is there anything else you would consider? Or is it a rocky and abusive but ultimately satisfying love affair from which there's no turning back?
SK: I am a registered Ayurvedic Nutritionist. And I am not kidding but every year I start to work on an application for a green MBA.

AD: Why?
SK: Commerce is one of the most amazing ways to make a difference in the world. When you first asked me that question ‘If not film, then what?’, the first thing that came to my mind was: ‘Film or Die!’ But the thought of a green MBA is because I am fascinated by corporations. By the impact they have on our lives. Corporations are antithetical to human culture, yet they interact with our lives in intimate ways. You know, I have worked with activists and they have this ‘us and them’ mentality. I am interested in [understanding ‘them’… penetrating the corporation’s mentality]. I am fascinated by the psychologies of corporation. I am fascinated by corporations such as Enron, by their greed and ingenuity. Enron is one of my favorite documentaries. I went to the World Water Forum where private businesses and governments interact. And I looked around and said to myself I will go up to the person who makes me feel the most uncomfortable and I will talk to that person. And I did, and the funny thing is they sound like us. They agree with our concerns but [when it comes down to acting on them] they don’t go about doing things our way. I believe that greater good can come if there is more social corporate responsibility and liability.

AD: Let’s go back to some of the questions I had emailed you earlier that we didn’t get around to covering. You have directed documentaries as well as fiction... Did you start out with the intention of focusing on one over the other as a means of story telling?
SK: I started out as a documentarian. And I still have a great love for documentaries. But I found that I couldn’t be as truthful in a documentary as I wanted to. I brought my own ideas and thoughts to a subject. It wasn’t exactly objective. ‘Any representation is a misrepresentation’. With fiction, I can be more honest. I can say this is my creation. Fiction does have the capacity to be a clear mirror of reality. I am not saying it always is, but it has the capacity for it. Enron made me believe in documentaries again, but for a while I was disenchanted by them. And a part of me wants to make ‘pretty pictures’!

AD: Currently you are working on post-production for A Drop of Life…
SK: Yes, we are adding special effects and sound.

AD: And its 27 minutes long but if it does well you might turn it into a feature length film…
SK: Yes. We are going to try and release it in festivals, on European TV… It’s a little hard because the industry is set-up against the short filmmaker. It’s not easy to sign a deal with a channel that you are completely happy with. I also want to distribute it via Internet and through grass roots efforts.

AD: I read somewhere that you wanted to direct a sci-fi trilogy and that A Drop of Life might actually segue into that.
SK: Yes, I am moved by movies such as Star Wars – for the record, the first three! – I am intrigued by the archetypal stories [such as] Mahabharata, Ramayana… I have been influenced by Joseph Campbell’s work, ‘A Hero with a 1000 faces.’ This is what influenced George Lucas and what led him to make Star Wars. These are stories that people have heard over and over and yet they’ll stay up late at night to watch another rendition of ‘Ramayana’. The stories resonate with them. They fulfill some longing and quest in mankind – the idea of saving the world resonates with people. I want to create a heroic sci-fi trilogy but one that deals with real issues [such as] the environment and human rights. There’s a real truth to the planet being in danger. I want my superheroes to embrace archetypes that have traditionally been ignored by Hollywood [and] mainstream commercial films: Women, people of color, queer people. I love the idea of women heroes. I call them supersheroes. Eco-supersheroes! I want to make ecology sexy if you will. I am already envisioning a line of action figures! I want little girls to have something other than Barbie to play with or look up to. I didn’t like Barbie when I was little. Did you?

AD: I think I really desired one when I was little because they were hard to come by in Pakistan at the time, but I do see what you mean about having a different and stronger role model for little girls than Barbie… So what are the different parts of your trilogy? Have you thought about that?
SK: The trilogy as a whole is about local and global connections. I think this is really the only way that you can fight. When people from both sides come together. One of the ideas in A Drop of Life is that the businesswoman and the schoolteacher in the Indian village fight together. They are the supersheroes. The trilogy will have three parts : Water, Energy, Rice.

AD: Rice makes me think perhaps of India…
SK: Well…I would like to make films beyond India. I want to go out of the box. I want to span 1st world and 3rd world scenarios.

AD: Is there a third world super hero in films that you can think of?
SK: [Pause]… Um, I think there’s that movie The Gods Must be Crazy. Also, Octavia Butler’s writing has some of that in it.

AD: You received a Fulbright in 2000 to make a documentary about political street theater in India. How was that experience?
SK: It was really eye opening. It taught me… how to build relationships. It taught me about the time that it takes to build relationships and how this is important when you are making films. I have a lot of respect for the political activists in India. I am impressed by the work that they do while their lives are in danger. I didn’t complete the film. But I have received a grant from the American Institute of Asian Studies to complete it.

AD: How many projects are you working on right now?
SK: Too many! I think people think that because we are working freelance or for ourselves we have absolute freedom. I always joke with my friends that yes, we have absolute freedom. We can work any 20 hours of the day we feel like!

AD: Who are the directors that you admire the most?
SK: Errol Morris (mockumentary maker).
Trinh Minh-Ha. She dissects the relationship between the subject and filmmaker.

AD: Do you like Bollywood?
SK: I am … entertained by Bollywood! Actually there are some very good actors in Bollywood. I would LOVE to work with Aparna Sen for example.

AD: I liked Bombay Longing (about a Desi queer in India). How did you come about this script?
SK: My friend Georgina Maddox wrote the story and I wanted to direct it. I like issues related to Desi queers. Homosexuality is still one issue where it’s considered ok to be openly bigoted. We are with gay rights where we were with civil rights fifty years ago... lacking equal protection under the law.

AD: Bombay Longing was shot in India. Where have your filmed most of your films?
SK: I would say half and half.

AD: What’s the main difference between working in either the US or India?
SK: The Hell of it is the same!

AD: What do you think is the most difficult aspect of filmmaking in either country?
SK: In the US it’s money. Financing. In the US, the spirit of digital technology and independent filmmaking is very strong. In India it’s catching on. But they are still pretty faithful to 35mm. Um, there aren’t enough women in either country who are filmmakers. In 2006 only 1% of Hollywood directors were women. One of the good things about India is that they have great technicians but it’s harder to get things done in India. You have to know someone… You can’t just get by on your credentials.

AD: How do you decide between digital technology and 35 mm for your films? Do you prefer one to the other?
SK: I think it depends on the story. The story dictates the medium. You know, if I were filming a story about a relationship that gets started in a bar I would use digital video. But I would use film in an environmental science fiction. It’s a way of bringing some ‘bling’ to social issues. Audiences are savvy and you have to be hard-hitting and your product has to be sexy. You need high production quality to attract attention to social issues.

AD: Is there a film that you wish you had directed?
SK: Gattaca! Excellent political sci-fi. And I wish I had written 1984.

AD: You mentioned that you would love to work with Aparna Sen. Are there any actors that you wish to work with as well?
SK: Uma Thurman!

AD: Oh, yes. She would make a fantastic supershero.
SK: Yeah, wouldn’t she! And I liked working with Nandita Das very much. I like Konkona Sen. I LOVE George Clooney. I have dreams about him… I think Angela Bassett would be amazing.

AD: What’s next for you?
SK: I am going to an artist in residence program for a month.. At Provincetown in Massachusetts. It’s a program funded by the Gaia Foundation and the Fine Arts Work Center. I am basically moving my office from Brooklyn to Provincetown for a month. I am going to take creative writing courses. Spend some time thinking about my next project…

Images Courtesy Shalini Kantayya