The indefatigable Mira Nair, currently basking in the glowing reviews for The Namesake the worldover."Initially the cast was meant to be Saif and Shiney. But Shiney always wanted to play Saif's character. So when Saif stepped out Shiney happily stepped into the role he wanted."Shiney plays a villager, quite a change-over for the urban character. But the real acting challenge was for Irrfan who plays a married closet gay trapped in a relationship with a young boy.Laughs Mira, "You're right. Playing gay is still not a straight acting challenge for Indian actors. Even my buddy Randeep Hooda (who did his first film Monsoon Wedding with me) said no. Irrrfan took on the role headlong. And he has emerged with another outstanding performance after The Namasake in a deeply challenging part The Migration. "He's a fearless actor. And it shows in his selection of roles. The Migration is not a sweeping-under-the-carpet kind of love story. It shows an intense love between two men. And Irrfan didn't hesitate."Mira's eyes light up as brightly as her striking orange salwar-kameez when she talks about her favourite actors. "Whether it's Irrfan, Tabu or Kal Penn in The Namesake, they all surrendered themselves to their characters.Tabu was a revelation. What an actor, and no vanity at all. When we were doing a series of press conferences in the US the American press would ask her about the craft and technique behind this scene or that. And Tabu would just shrug nonchalantly.
I had to prod her to make up something or the other. Kuch banake bol do, yaar…for impression's sake."
Her loud laughter rings infectiously in the air. Then she softens as she re-lives the whole experience of making The Namesake. "I felt extremely close to the project.
Yes, I guess the fact that it does tap the Indian side of me makes it as precious as Monsoon Wedding, Mississippi Masala or Salaam Bombay."
But Mira refuses to see the international success of Deepa Mehta's Water and The Namesake as part of an ongoing resurrection of Bollywood in a neo-realistic avatar, a la Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali.
"No, it was never about culture specificity. It was always about how that culture had a bearing on people at large. Nobody is reacting to The Namesake as a Bengali or a cross-cultural drama. They empathize with the theme of loneliness, the parent-child relationship and how it gets altered with age."
As for The Migration, AIDS is a subject that deeply disturbs Mira. "Here In India apart from Bengal and Kolkata we just don't take it seriously enough. We've planned the short-films on AIDS not as propaganda theme, but independent 12-minute feature films by me, Santosh Sivan (who has just shot his AIDS film in Malayalam) and Vishal Bharadwaj (who's currently shooting his film)."
Negotiations are on with Indian production houses to tag Mira's films on to big Bollywood blockbusters in theatres to give the AIDS film a captive audience. And if all goes well The Migration will be screened along with Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar.