Bollywood North
Deepa Mehta caught red-handed in musical-comedy shocker!
PREVIEW
BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD
Starring Lisa Ray, etc
Written and directed by
Deepa Mehta
Sunday, October 6
Globe Cinema
When we think of film artists making a leap into new territory, it’s most often into a realm of utmost seriousness – an attempt to make their great masterpiece. This year’s films, however, show a new trend emerging – that of the "serious artiste" forging ahead into decidedly comedic waters.
In addition to P.T. Anderson's by all accounts brilliant Adam Sandler comedy Punch Drunk Love, and even Ismail Merchant's charming and gentle comedy The Mystic Masseur, Toronto’s Deepa Mehta jumps into the transformation fray with the inviting musical comedy Bollywood/Hollywood.
A joyous bauble of a film, Bollywood/Hollywood teases the Bollywood film factory in a way that's similar to Woody Allen’s prodding of the classic Hollywood musical in Everyone Says I Love You. While Allen's and Mehta’s films poke amiable fun at their respective targets, both show an obvious affection for their source material, harking back to the old playground adage that the classmate you tease most is the one you’re secretly in love with.
After the death of Rahul Seth’s (Rahul Khanna) pop-star girlfriend Kimberly (Jessica Paré) in a tragic hillside levitation accident (new age faddism gone hilariously awry), Mummy ji (Moushumi Chatterjee) pushes Rahul into choosing an Indian girl and settling down as tradition dictates. To keep the family off his back, Rahul hires the Indian-looking escort Sue Singh (Lisa Ray) to pose as his new-found fiancée.
In classic farce style, Mehta outfits each character with their own set of memorable idiosyncrasies – Grandma ji (Dina Pathak, in the film’s standout performance) quotes constantly from Shakespeare without ever knowing the actual source, Sue’s father (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) pulls life lessons straight from the scenes of his favourite Bollywood films ("Inspired by the inspiring moment, the door to my heart remains open 24/7"), and the family chauffeur, Rocky (Mehta regular Ranjit Chowdry), hides his proclivity for cross-dressing. Keeping Rahul further in line, a framed portrait of his late father occasionally comes to life, speaking only in sports metaphors ("You hold the bat of destinyÖ Think Blue Jays").
For such a joyous romp, Bollywood/Hollywood grows from a dark past. Following the completion of Earth (1998) and Fire (1996), the first two parts of a proposed trilogy of films examining life in Mehta’s birthplace, several theatres showing the films in India were subject to intense protest and even arson at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists. At the outset of production on the Water, the final installment, the on-going protest reached a fever pitch and the project was deemed "anti-Hindu." On only the second day of filming, the film set was raided and destroyed as effigies of Mehta were burned.
Recalling the film’s disintegration, Mehta’s voice on the telephone from Toronto grows weary.
"We were unceremoniously shut down. I hope to finish Water – I desperately want to – but I couldn’t help but take it personally like all filmmakers do when their films are attacked. I got used to the effigies, but when I got back (to Canada), I didn’t know if I ever wanted to make another film."
Proving that what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, Mehta gradually worked her way back towards filmmaking through her lifelong love of cinema.
"I was so down when I got back – I don’t think I could bear another cinema hall being burned down for one of my movies – but I sat down at my kitchen table and realized that I wanted to make something life-affirming. Five months later, we were shooting."
Shot in Toronto, Bollywood/Hollywood keeps things pointedly Canadian behind its paradoxically exotic title.
"Being in Canada, you can be exposed to Bollywood just as much as you are to Hollywood. It seemed like the perfect place to draw them together. At one point in the film, Sue says ‘I’m partial to multiple identities,' and in a way she’s talking about Canada."
Despite its questioning of uprooted tradition, Bollywood/Hollywood operates with a permanent smile attached – what could have been a heavy examination of the new generation’s refusal of antiquated moulds is instead a cue for song and dance.
Still, there are those who don’t quite get it. While already an audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival (where hopeful festival-goers waited patiently in line for stand-by tickets to the sold-out screenings), the critical response to Bollywood/Hollywood has been relatively faint. While quite proudly a low-calorie truffle, the film is never a trifle, and Mehta has her own response for anyone who would shrug it off as such.
"If critics are trying to find great depth or angst in something that’s obviously a musical comedy, they’re nuts. What are they looking for? It’s almost (like) if something isn’t angst-ridden, somehow it isn’t viable. I think Canadians should really learn to lighten up – park your grey cells in the basement and just have a good time."
For the protestors responsible for shutting down the set of Water, Mehta hopes for another response: "I think they’ll probably dance." |
