Most of the times we find Hindi film heroines are presented as the epitome of beauty. Gurinder Chadha tinkers with this deep-rooted stereotype, which has social ramifications, in “It's A Wonderful Afterlife”, a Chadha comedy releasing this Friday. If the title gives a backhand compliment to Frank Capra's classic, Chadha says the form flirts with the Ealing comedies, the lightly satirical films which depicted British society in the post World War II period. “I have also put an element of ghost. Horror-comedies are common in Britain, but Indian audience have not experienced the genre. Also, in British films we hardly find British Indian characters. I felt the need for both, and we have a ‘masala' film, which has comedy, ghosts, tragedy and reincarnation with a social comment underneath,” says Chadha, who established herself as the voice of the Diaspora with films like “Bhaji On The Beach” and “Bend It Like Beckham”.
Indian obsession
At the heart of the story is the Indian obsession with marriage dealt with in a light-hearted fashion. “Mrs. Sethi is a typical Punjabi woman that we see on the road but hardly ever try to delve into the story of such fat dames. She has a well-rounded daughter, who is not beautiful in the traditional sense. Frustrated after her repeated attempts to get her married, Sethi kills the people who refused her. Interestingly, the ghosts of four such people help her out in finding a groom for her daughter in return for reincarnation.” She says the thought of reincarnation by doing a good deed lends a moral fibre to the film and therein lies the link with Capra's “It's A Beautiful Life”.
Chadha assures us she hasn't fallen for the typical solutions that the girl loses weight in the second half and turns into a swan. “Here the character Roopi is ultimately accepted as she is…only her dress sense changes a bit. The filmmakers need to understand that we have a lot of well-rounded women around and they make perfect brides and mothers. In India you will find such ladies in almost every household. The filmy representation is responsible for creating unnecessary pressure on girls to be skinny leading to an unhealthy lifestyle.”
Shabana Azmi plays Mrs. Sethi and Chadha says the actress didn't read the script before accepting the offer. “Like many, I also had a serious image of her in my mind but when I met her with Javed Akhtar during the shooting of ‘Bride and Prejudice', I saw the lighter side of her. There I made up my mind to offer her a central role in one of my films. Mrs. Sethi is a complex character. It is not one of those roles where she had to look inside. On one hand it is over the top, as she is interacting with ghosts, which only she could see, all the time, and on the other, there is a tragic underpinning to her character. Only she could have made it look authentic. Those who have seen the film in Britain have called it an Indian Bridget Jones.”
Chadha says this time it was different for Shabana, known for her intense preparation for a role. “She didn't know my kind of humour. It was only when she landed in London that she got an idea. I made her watch some Ealing comedies and then she got the hang of things. She observed the gait, walk and accent of Punjabi women in South Hall and incorporated it so well into the character that when curious people trooped in on the sets looking for Shabanaji, they were unable to identify her.”
The film also marks Chadha's association with an Indian production house, Studio 18. There is a growing acceptance for her kind of cinema where culture is used as a tool to transcend boundaries. “Coming from a mixed parentage, growing up in London and married to a Japanese American, I understand the problems of the Diaspora better than many others. British people might not identify with the Indian obsession with marriage, but Italians, South Africans and Chinese would. This has happened with most of my films. People have been able to identify with the characters despite cultural barriers on the surface.” Chadha says during her growing up years she missed Asian characters on television and films. “So when I got an opportunity, I attempted to make them mainstream.” Now when she has succeeded, she wants to have fun with it.
Hindi version
The Hindi version of the film is called “Hai Marjawaan”, but if the past is a parameter, the chances don't look too bright as the dubbed version of “Bride And Prejudice” didn't find many takers. “‘Bride And Prejudice' was not essentially made for a Hindi film audience. It was a way to introduce American audiences to Bollywood song and dance and it achieved that goal. I have seen young American girls still dancing to songs of the film in Bollywood night parties. “Hai Marjawaan” is very much my film. It has much more to appeal to the Indian audience, as apart from the theme the comic lines and gags have an Indian touch.”
Chadha is now working on a children's film set in Kerala with lots of elephants around. “I believe kids' films have lost their innocence. These days I find them a lot more knowing. Perhaps producers want to reach out to the entire family. The kids of today are much more exposed to the media and perhaps they get the inherent meaning, but do they need to? I want to make it just for kids. Then there is a film on the Indian Freedom Movement from a British Indian perspective.” Is she ready to rub some Indians the wrong way? “Well, every good film does that. Otherwise filmmaking will become a very bland process. It is still early days, but the film in a way represents my life. My grandparents suffered while shifting from India and I have carried that pain somewhere inside.”
