Indian director thrilled over 'Water' release at home

INDIA: Director Deepa Mehta has travelled a rocky road to bring her Oscar-nominated film Water to the screen but she says the movie's release next month in her home country will be very special.

Filming of the movie - about the plight of Hindu widows who were ostracised and harshly treated - was abandoned in 2000 after radical Hindus protested against its portrayal of women under Hinduism in 20th-century India.

The 57-year-old Mehta was also dragged to court for allegedly plagiarising from a well-known Bengali language novel Sei Samay (Those Days). The case was later settled out of court. Mehta said she had put the controversy behind her.

"I have no anger against anyone. It was very unfortunate, very difficult then. I felt dismay and a sense of loss but the film has had its share of supporters too," the Canada-based filmmaker said in New Delhi.

The movie is Canada's nomination for the Academy Awards. Mehta said it was a reflection of her adopted country's multiculturalism that a film on India by an Indian had been put forward.

"If India gives me the passion to do the kind of stories I like, Canada gives me the freedom of expression to express those stories," she said.

During the protests, the film's sets were damaged and Mehta and her crew were forced to abandon the project. She started again from scratch, shooting in Sri Lanka with a fresh cast and completed the movie in 2005.

Mehta said despite the controversy, she never thought of abandoning the project.

"It was very important for me to make the film as it was very special to me. I am very proud of it and I am thrilled that it is being released in India too," she said.

Originally, it was to be set in the holiest Hindu city of Varanasi, where the widows lived, but Mehta said the story was now set elsewhere in India instead, as it would have been difficult to recreate the riverside city.

Water is set in the 1930s, when widows were boycotted and lived in poverty and destitution. Some widows still live in isolation and penury but special homes have been set up in places such as Vrindavan in northern India.

Protestors argued the film showed Hinduism in a poor light.

The 114-minute film, in which one of the characters is forced into prostitution, has been cleared by the Indian censor board.

The film's distributors said they were not worried about protests when it opens on March 9.

"I have not received any threats so far. So I am not concerned about protests.

It's a great film. People should be able to watch it here," said distributor Ravi Chopra.

Water premiered at the Toronto film festival in 2005 and won international acclaim.

Another of Mehta's previous films courted trouble for showing a lesbian relationship in overtly orthodox India.

Protestors attacked movie houses where Fire was being shown in 1996.

AFP