She is just superb and I’m glad that she is doing really well right now, she’s coming out in quite a few movies, but she is so dedicated as an actress, she’s really funny and she was channelling Margaret Rutherford.
- The movie is set in the London suburb of Southall so did you film on location and what issues did you face on the shoot?
My offices are at Ealing Studios so we set the film up there and we shoot all around Ealing and of course Central London. But I wanted to make the Ealing comedy true to that genre, that quirky British comedy, and so we had to set it in Ealing.
- Some of the scenes have the ghosts that only Mrs Sethi can see so what challenges did that pose knowing that she could see them but other characters couldn’t?
Well that was complicated in terms of shooting because we would have to shoot everything twice; we would shoot it once with the ghosts and one without.
But that meant that you had to do everything exactly the same so one minute you would be shooting a scene with six people in it, the mum and five ghosts, in a wide frame and then you would have to shoot it again with just the mum but still in a wide frame.
But then we would have to have the ghosts saying their lines off camera and Shabana would still have to turn around and look at them even though they weren’t there (laugh).
So that was a bit funny sometimes because we knew the ghosts were there but if you didn’t then it could look like she was a bit mad there way her eyes would dart about, so that quite challenging to make it seem like the ghost were there but without her appearing mad.
- There is a nod to Alien and Carrie in the movie so what was it about these scenes that you like and felt you needed to include in the movie?
Well Carries was just the first and last horror movie that I had seen and I have done so many Indian wedding scenes and I just loved the idea of taking one of those wedding scenes and turning it into the prom scene from Carrie, it’s so out there.
It was brilliant doing that scene because, I think, it does justice to the Carrie scene and it was great throwing curry around on everybody, and a lot of the extras in that scene were my family; my mum getting pelted with samosas is just great.
It is just so out there and you would never imagine a movie set in this community doing something like that and that’s what I love about that scene.
- You do independently produce all of your movies so how important is it for you to have control over your work?
I do work very collaboratively and I talk to other people plus when I have finished the film I do love to show it to lots of people to get their feedback.
But it is very much a priviledge in this day and age where you can make a film without having someone breathing down your neck trying to make you do what you don’t want to do, and I’m very grateful for that.
- You are now also a mother so how do you find juggling the two?
Angus was my first movie as a mother the twins were three months old when I shot that film so they just sat there but this time it was much harder because I missed them when I was on set all day, I made a point of seeing them in the morning and the evening and they would come and visit me, and that’s why the shoot was so short.
But they totally understand about mamma’s work and they don’t think it’s weird that I’m on television or that I’m always working on the computer or writing or watching clips it’s just normal for them.
- This is another movie that boasts some really good young talent on the cast list and of course you uncovered Keira Knightly, Parminder Nagra and Aaron Johnson is doing very well so what’s your secret?
You know I just look at what I think is going to work in terms of the character and then if I see an actor who I think has a spark or something about and has integrity in their performance then I always go for that. So it’s just instinct I guess as well as being open to new faces and not just names.
- Finally what’s next for you?
I’m currently working on quite a major historical movie, I want to make a big historical epic set in India in 1947 when the British Raj ended and India became independent.
So it’s quite a big undertaking but we have been working on the script and so far it’s coming along fantastic and I’m absolutely pumped and excited about making this big historical epic.
It’s A Wonderful Afterlife is out on DVD now.
Femalefirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Gurinder Chadha