By Sumita Sheth

Official selection at the Toronto, Berlin and AFI film festivals, and winner of the FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique/ International Federation of Film Critics) award, Shonali Bose’s movie Amu releases on May 25th in select theatres in New York City before embarking on openings across the US.

While the movie opens with the story of a young Indian-American girl’s foray into her adopted past in India, its main subject matter is the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India at the hands of her Sikh guards in 1984. As a result it has had its share of controversy as noted in the publicity materials – “Hailed by renowned director Mira Nair as “courageous, honest, [and] compelling,” Bose’s provocative film comes to the U.S. after its controversial run in India, where it was censored for its brave indictment of the Indian government’s role in the Delhi riots that followed the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Sikhs.”

We took some of her time to ask Shonali Bose a few questions about the movie and her vision, as well as source of inspiration during the years that it took for the story to be produced into the movie.

What are your thoughts as this movie, which you made back in 2005, has the chance to really reach a mass US audience now?
The film already reached a mass audience in India in 2005 as that was when it had its theatrical release in all the major cities. It ran houseful for 3 months in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and did very well in the South as well. Because of the buzz from India - people in the US, UK and Canada of Indian origin have been eagerly awaiting the film and I keep getting emails asking about the DVD - which we have still withheld. Ideally, the film would have come out straight after the Indian release. However the US market being what it is, foreign films have a huge delay in the theatrical releases here - Monsoon Wedding, Bend it Like Beckham, all had to wait over one year to be released here. The Namesake was ready in April 2006 but was only released now a year later. The Wind that Shook the Barley which won the grand prize at Cannes last year is in theaters now etc.
We could have done a release just in the Indian theaters - like the Bollywood films and most Indian films do, but both our distributors, Emerging Pictures, and we, felt that this is a crossover film and we
should wait for American theaters before releasing. This is a strong word of mouth film - and I am confident that it will do well in the US in spite of our limited marketing budget. Good Indian films like Water and The Namesake have all recently done very well here proving that there is indeed a mass market for our kind of cinema.
The fact that it released two years ago in India will not have a negative effect. People want to see a film they have heard good things about. They don't care about when it was made - fortunately!

As a writer-director, do you feel you had to make any artistic compromises as you shot this movie to make it commercially viable or even, say, more marketable?
No, I did not. In fact, I turned down money from financiers who said it would be more marketable if:

1. I had an American in the lead (Hollywood). I said I did have an American in the lead - the girl was Indian American. It turned out that they clearly meant White American - brown doesn't quite cut it!

In India, I was offered money:
2. if there were songs
3. if I took a big Bollywood star to play the male lead - heroes sell films in India.
I refused to compromise on all of these counts.

I also did not even slightly adapt the story to make it more understood in the West. There are certain subtleties and nuances that only Indians in India will get and that is fine by me. I hate films which over explain themselves because they are catering to a western audience.
Since Amu has stood the test of fire and done both critically and popularly well in the festivals, Indian theatrical release, Canadian theatrical release - I am glad I stuck to my guns. Audiences are intelligent. We should be guided by our own instincts as film makers, be truthful to ourselves and to our stories and characters, and not be guided by what distributors and financiers feel the "market" wants.

However, without a doubt, if Amu had a big Bollywood star in it, it would have had a much bigger release. But it would have compromised the authenticity and power of the story.

Is the novel very different from the movie?
Penguin asked me to write Amu as a novel when I just was finishing up shooting the film in India. I wrote it while I was editing the film. I followed the shooting script of Amu (which was my 21st draft of the screenplay). The first edit of the film, which also followed the shooting script, was 3 hours long. However we were ruthless in our editing as we were determined that the film should not drag at any point. The final film is 98 minutes. The novel has all those parts which I had to sacrifice from the final film. All the scenes in LA were completely axed. Kaju's struggle with her American identity and fitting in while in India, Kabir's family scenes, the tension between his parents, Keya's love story with Neel were all removed. Although they were beautiful scenes, it was only because of pacing that we deleted them. I do feel that many Indian filmmakers are indulgent and leave to much fat in their films. So I was determined to be strict with myself, and it was hard, as I knew what had gone into the scenes we took out and loved them.
So, it is interesting to read the novel and get these additional nuances and back-stories.

Are any of the differences ones that you would like to go back and put in?
The film stands as it is. I do not regret cutting what we did. I will put some of the deleted scenes in the DVD though as they should be watched.

Looking back, would you do anything differently from the conception to the present?
I would have tried harder to find a producer. I had to single handedly direct and produce the film myself, and that was extremely hard, and I will never do it again.
Also, although this is something I did try, I would try harder to ensure that I raised money for the marketing and release of the film at the same time as the money to make it. It was in our budget and intentions but with difficulty we raised enough to make it so it wasn't a choice. But this is something I would advise all independent filmmakers to do.

How easy was it to get a talented and well-known actress like Konkona Sen Sharma for your project?
A cakewalk. She was dying to be in the film, because she loved the screenplay, the story, the character. Intelligent actors like her in India are desperate for good scripts. It was the other way around - we weren't sure if she would be the right choice because she had to play an American.
So I auditioned 60 - 70 Indian American actors in NY and LA but finally I went with her because she was the most talented. And I am so glad I did because she totally pulled off being American. She was really excited when I called her with the news and agreed to come to LA and live with me for a few weeks to do accent training. That time-period not just prepared her but created a bond between us and an understanding of the script, which was invaluable during the hectic period of production.

Because you are both women and that your protagonist is the same, Konkona Sen Sharma, do you feel that Amu is compared to Mr. & Mrs. Iyer a lot?
What are some of the most memorable comparisons?
And do you think the comparisons are valid?
Amu is compared to Mr. and Mrs. Iyer not because Aparna Sen and I are women directors but because both films are essentially about communal violence. Its not that they are compared in terms of scenes or characters – it’s just that people mention one when they do the other. And I take that as a compliment as I loved Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Aparna Sen is one of my best directors - I have known her since childhood and look up to her a lot. I even have a reference to Mr. and Mrs. Iyer in a scene in Amu because of this feeling. Audiences who get it have always enjoyed that little film joke.

If our information is correct, it took about 8 years to get enough funding to shoot this movie. What kept you going through those years?
It took 4 years to write and raise the money simultaneously. I started in 1999 and we went into pre production in end 2003. But those 4 years sure felt like 8! There were times when it was dark and I felt it was impossible to carry on, because there was absolutely no support to make such a film - even from the Sikh community. The support of my husband, who felt equally strongly that such a film should be made and my family was invaluable, but I think the thing that gave me most courage was to think of the widows whom I had worked with in the relief camps in 1984, who had seen their children killed in front of them. I was a mother with two small children when I was writing Amu . To think of the pain of those women and their courage, in continuing to fight for justice for all these years, as the guilty still had not been punished, gave me the courage and determination not to give in.

How do you feel when you now look back on that time?
I shudder when I remember the constant rejections, the discouragement, rudeness (one company interrupted me mid pitch and said a film on 1984 could not be made so no point hearing anymore), lies, false promises, agonies....and marvel at how I persevered and remained a full time mother through it all. In all honesty, if that’s what I have to do for the next film, this industry is not for me. I had to do it for Amu , because this story was larger than me. I cannot do it again.

Is this the end of this story? What do you plan for it next?
And what next in terms of your general projects?
Inshallah this is not the end of the story! For me or Amu . Where Amu is concerned, after the US release we will bring out the DVD. I will also spend Fall quarter going to college campuses in Canada and the US to screen the film and have discussions with youth. The most amazing responses to Amu have come from the youth - Indian, Sikh, American, Italian... I did this in schools and colleges in Delhi and it was fantastic and empowering for them.
With regard to my future as a filmmaker, luckily even though I did not compromise on Amu and made it exactly to my taste and did not cater to a "market", it has been absolutely loved by the mainstream Indian film industry. Actors want to know what my next script is, as do producers. In fact, I have almost finished a satisfactory draft, which I have spent the past year researching and writing, and Aditya Chopra (the biggest producer in India) has asked to read it. Vishal Bhardwaj who is an amazing director himself and has also started producing is also interested. So I am excited and hopeful. It is an inspiring story of young revolutionary women and men in the Indian freedom struggle - in a place called Chittagong.

Thank you for your time.
Thank you for the most interesting and unusual questions that I've been asked to date!

Images Courtesy Shonali Bose