Approaching Midnight

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

She calls her latest project her biggest film to date. For Indo-Canadian film maker Deepa Mehta adapting Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children into a film has been no walk in the park. A woman of substance with an Oscar nomination under her belt, Mehta is known for her controversial theme based movies like her critically acclaimed Elements trilogy Fire, Earth and Water. Her latest cinematic venture, Midnight's Children released at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and will begin screening in Sri Lanka at the Majestic Cineplex towards the end of the month.

“This is not just another film but an international production shot entirely in Sri Lankan soil. This spotlights on Sri Lanka as a prime film destination and shows that we have the backgrounds and resources to make mega productions of this nature here,” The Film Team Chairman Ravindra Randeniya opined at a special screening of the movie held at the National Film Corporation.

Production Designer Errol Kelly, Line Producer Anisley de Silva and Sales and Marketing Director Gopi Darmaratnam have joined hands with him in helping to shoulder the responsibilities of logistical management, creative vision and technical savvy essential in making Midnight's Children.

Kelly’s expertise came in handy in some of the trickier moments of filming the movie.

He designed slums with flat roofs, grills and drawings to capture the Indian atmosphere. He designed the houses with little allies so that the actual houses which exist blend nicely with the constructions, minimizing the production cost by having to build extra huts to show the congested neighbourhood.

Since Midnight's Children is set in three countries: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the team had to keep track on every minute detail of the setting.

Midnight's Children has been shot in 65 locations in Sri Lanka including Wesley College, St Joseph’s College, S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, Royal College, Galle Face Hotel, Maradana Station, Mayors House, Ayurveda Hospital, Apple Watte, Taj Restaurant, Elphinstone Theatre, Welikada Prisons, Regal Theatre, Old Town Hall and many other places in and around Colombo. Shooting was concluded in 70 days.

“We went to Mumbai, looked at locations and realised that if I wanted to shoot there, it would be very difficult because nothing looks period. There are high-rises everywhere, BMW cars on the streets. That's why it was important to shoot in Sri Lanka - it's very similar, except that it isn't as built-up. There are lovely period houses there. The view of the sea is not sullied by big sky-rises. We had a really positive experience shooting in Sri Lanka,” Mehta stated in an interview with Reuters.

The film chronicles the story of an Indian family living through the tumultuous events of the country's recent past. It comprises well known actors from India, the UK, Canada and the US. It stars Satya Bhabha, Shabana Azmi, Rahul Bose, Seema Biswas, Smrat Chakrabarti, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Sarita Choudhury, Soha Ali Khan, Anupam Kher, Anita Majumdar, Ronit Roy, Shriya Satan, Siddharth, and others. Midnight’s Children is produced by David Hamilton.Queried on how much of her own vision went into the story Mehta notes that it is just an interpretation of Rushdie’s work.

“Salman wrote the script. He has an extremely deep understanding of cinema and instinctually knows what needs to be retained and what needs to be taken away for a visual telling of a literary text. We both agreed on the essential components of the narrative. The first draft of the script was about 267 pages, but eventually it was whittled down into a movie just over two hours. Luckily, he was incredibly respectful of my job as a filmmaker,” she adds about taking on a Rushdie novel which is always likely to be a mission impossible task.

Deepa Mehta

Salman Rushdie

“Midnight’s Children is a film that is extremely close to my heart. It has been a labour of love in every sense of the word and everyone involved, I think, would say the same. It is obviously an adaptation based on one of the most well known books of this century and I am honoured to have the chance to adapt it. It is a book and a film that contains the essential elements of humanity that connect us all together—home, identity, family, hope.”

Another significant aspect connected with the film is that the Indian Censor Board had not cut a single shot of the film but had given it an ‘A’ certificate, signifying that it is for the adult audience.

Mehta sees this as a positive sign of change in the Indian socio-political framework and that the adult audience is being treated as a mature viewership.

“As a filmmaker, you want your film to be seen and appreciated. Some people will love it, some will be surprised and some will not stand it. Very few films are embraced by all,” said the 63-year-old filmmaker who recently bagged the Governor-General Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest civilian award.

“It is such an incredible honour, a definite high point of my career,” she expressed.

Mehta reveals that her next project is on a film called Masterpiece which tells the story of the French artist Henri Matisse and his muse. She wishes to cast Javier Bardem for the role of the painter while she has Black Swan's Mila Kunis in mind for the young nun’s role.

Murder 3 is lucky for Hooda

After receiving rave reviews for his performance in Vishesh Films’ Jannat 2, Randeep Hooda is hoping to strike gold with his next association with the production house - Murder 3.

The actor, who is next seen in Fox Star Studios and Vishesh Films’ Murder 3, is looking forward to the release that will see him play a wildlife photographer in the plot driven thriller, which also marks the directorial debut of Vishesh Bhatt, after whom the production house has been named.

All praise for the first-time director stated Randeep, “This is my eighth film with a first time director, but Vishesh Bhatt surprised me with his maturity.”

After the first two installments that took the box office by storm, the hot star is hoping to carry the success of the franchise forward.

Added Randeep, “It is my good luck that this film is titled Murder 3 because the first two films were very successful and I would also want to strike a lottery with this one. More than that, I don't have any pressure.” Also starring Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren along with Randeep, Murder 3 is currently screening at Liberty Lite cinema.

Lynch’s alien project

For Jane Lynch, there's nothing foreign about acting. There is, however, something very alien about her new movie, Escape from Planet Earth. The movie is screening at Savoy 3D theatre these days and tells the story of a group of aliens from various planets who all live in Area 51.

When planet Baab's superhero, Scorch Supernova, receives their S.O.S., he tries to come to their aid and ends up stuck on Earth with them. They'll form an unlikely group of friends and rely on a different unexpected hero to escape.

Lynch voices the character of Io and Io's uncommon community happens to be what she likes most about the film, too.

“I really love the movie. I think it's so sweet and it's so tender,” Lynch said.

“It shows we really all just the same, even if we're from different planets. We all have the same hopes and desires.”

As Lynch explained, the aliens are all from many different planets and none of them knew the others existed until they all ended up crashing in Area 51, where they bond and become a team. If people from different planets can get along, you think we'd be able to get along better with all our fellow earthlings, right? That's certainly the message she hopes the kids will pick up when they watch the movie.

“I think in the same way that Glee has this message, it's that diversity is good,” Lynch said, again, of how the aliens overcome their differences to work together and escape.

“That it is to be celebrated, not shied away from or hidden.”

Is that a lesson that can be easily learned by the viewers of Escape from Planet Earth? Lynch thinks so!

“I think kids nowadays have it differently from when I was growing up,” she said.

“We tend to mix more with people who don't look exactly like us and are of different religions or no religion at all, of different ethnicities or mixed ethnicities.”

She sees it in her daughter Haden's own life.

“I know my girl Haden's class is full of every flavor of kid,” Lynch said.

“There's every kind of kid in the world represented in her little class so she doesn't see it, which is wonderful.”

It sounds like Escape from Planet Earth is full of heart and that's exactly why Lynch signed on. While she was reluctant to admit that she gets to be a little pickier these days about the roles she takes, she said this one certainly pulled her in.

“You know, I guess I need to give myself a little more credit,” she admitted.

“I was moved by the material, I was very happy to do it. I was honored that they wanted me to voice this wonderful character that they had conceived. You know, these days I do have a little more choice and... I was really happy to be offered it and to be able to say, ‘yes.'”

Another great thing about the movie? It's completely kid-friendly; unlike a lot of animated movies that sometimes end up seeming a little too mature for the pint-size viewers.

“First of all, there are so few things out there that a mom and a dad and kids can see together and everybody enjoy,” she said.

“And I think this is a movie that everybody can enjoy. There's some really great humor.”