Parama (1984), Sati (1989), Yugant (1995), Mr and Mrs Iyer (2002), The Japanese Wife (2010), Iti Mrinalini (2010) and Goynar Baksho (2013) were some of the movies picked from the director's rich repository of works and screened at this year's film fest.
In an exclusive chat with TOI, the 68-year-old veteran filmmaker with an ageless smile shares interesting anecdotes about her critically acclaimed movie, 'The Japanese Wife', reveals her love for Latin-American literature, explains why she hasn't had a chance to adapt any Tagore novel into a screenplay and much more...
Excerpts...
Can 'art' withstand the Modi wave?
The Election Results were out and NaMo chants filled the air. Our conversation too, hit a political note, at least for starters. Narendra Modi's sweeping victory in what can be termed as one of our country's historic elections since 1984, was not an occasion for celebration for all. Some called it a 'Black Friday' and others mourned the slow death of freedom of artistic expression. Author Salman Rushdie for instance, said a Modi-run government would be a "bullying" one. We asked Aparna if her fears are similar and she explained, "Power corrupts and what worries me is that the BJP has got absolute majority with no one party in opposition. People wanted change this time and the Indian electorate voted for the only available alternative. On the question of curbing artistic freedom under the new regime, well, that is not a recent occurrence. Secular and liberal voices are not heard enough. A totalitarian rule that does not allow dialogue and multiple voices is a threatening one. Debates, discussions and arguments are necessary for a healthy democracy."
The bookworm filmmaker
We soon took a deliberate detour from politics and shifted our focus to literature and books. The reading list that Aparna allowed us a sneak-peek into is an exhaustive one. Though she would not like to call herself a voracious reader now as there is far too much work to pursue her reading on a regular basis, she admits she used to read a lot at one time. "I grew up reading the classics -- both in English and in Bengali. The usual Dickens, Hardy, the Bronte sisters and so on, and after that Chekhov, Ibsen, Lorca, Yeats and T. S. Eliot. In Bengali, the mandatory reading included works by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, Manik Bandopadhyay, Sharadindu Bandopadhyay, Bankim Chandra, Vidyasagar, Sarat Chandra and of course Rabindranath Tagore. Among the later ones, I am fond of Shyamal Gangopadhyay, Samaresh Basu, Shirshendu Mukhpadhyay, Mahashweta Debi and many others. I have loved poems by Jibanananda Das, Shankha Ghosh, Shakti Chattopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay, and later poets like Joy Goswamy and Srijato. Also, Latin-American literature has always fascinated me- especially, works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende and a little of Jorge Luis Borges. I also like Indian writing in English- Vikram Seth in particular," said Aparna, who recently finished reading a Bengali translation of Li Cunxin's 'Mao's Last Dancer'. It is a memoir of a ballet dancer born in Communist China under the Mao Zedong regime. "It gives you interesting insights into what life was like in Mao's China," she adds.
One of Aparna Sen's later movies- Iti Mrinalini (2010) re-imagines a defining episode from the 'Mahabharata' where Kunti comes to meet Karna before the Kurukshetra War. What is it about our epics that we keep going back to them? "The Karna-Kunti sequence in my film is a mixed adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's 'Karna-Kunti Sambad' and Buddhadeva Basu's verse drama 'Pratham Partha'. My Kunti is dressed in black and I remember how fascinating the entire experience of creating the costumes was. Jewellery and accessories had tribal motifs and we wore un-stitched clothes to evoke the period. Artistic experiments and an interplay of imagination and innovation help keep the epics alive even today. I think there is a common perception that the 'Mahabharata' and the 'Ramayana' are religious texts. They're not; they're epic poems, like 'The Iliad' or the 'Odyssey' by Homer. For many people the original and sole author of The Ramayana was/is Tulsidas! Tulsidas was a wonderful folk poet but he was by no means the first or only chronicler of the epic. Generations of poets have interpreted and reinterpreted these texts and revisited our mythology in fiction and other art forms," argued Aparna.
The story behind 'The Japanese Wife'
It was over a casual coffee session with Kunal (Basu) that the idea of filming 'The Japanese Wife' was born. The book of short stories had not released yet. "Kunal and I had started collaborating on a script and we were getting nowhere. Then we decided to take a coffee break and he began to tell me a story. It was originally called 'Kites'. As he narrated it, images crowded my mind and I asked him if he had given the film rights of the story to anyone. He said he hadn't and I requested him not to," recounted the director. That story became Aparna Sen's film- 'The Japanese Wife' and eventually the movie name gave the book its title as well.
No Tagore on celluloid?
Bengali filmmakers' obsession with Tagore is a widely accepted truth. It is, therefore, quite unusual that as a filmmaker Aparna Sen was not bitten by the Tagore bug. Putting our curiosity to rest, she clarified, "I had wanted to make Chokher Bali (somewhere in the 80s, shortly after '36 Chowringhee Lane') but the rights were not available at the time. I had made extensive notes too, which I later offered to share with Ritu (the late Rituparno Ghosh) when he decided to make a film based on the novel. However, Ritu didn't want to be influenced in any way and went on to make his own film. Tagore's Gora has also interested me because of its contemporary relevance. But it would be difficult to recreate the period and who could I possibly cast as Gora? Konkona too, keeps telling me that I should make a film based on one of Tagore's works. I hope I am able to do so soon."
Aparna is currently working on a Hindi version of Badal Sarkar's 'Saara Rattir' (Saari Raat) as a short film for an Indo-Pak film festival. It would be filmed in the form of a play in three acts and be her tribute to the playwright who passed away a few years ago.
Aparna Sen's recommended reading list includes:
1. No Country: A Novel by Kalyan Ray (slated to release June 2014)
2. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
3. The Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
4. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
(Originally published on May 20, 2014)
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
On a retrospective journey with Aparna Sen
Dengan url
http://masalahurat.blogspot.com/2014/05/on-retrospective-journey-with-aparna-sen.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
On a retrospective journey with Aparna Sen
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
On a retrospective journey with Aparna Sen
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar