Mira’s Slam Bombay: AIDS a dirty word for top actors

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Mira's Slam Bombay: AIDS a dirty word for top actors

SAIBAL CHATTERJEE,

Unveiling her film on AIDS in India at Toronto Film Festival, Mira

Nair says Indian stars shied away, one who agreed backed out at last

minute

Toronto, September 9: So you thought A-list denizens of Bollywood

love a cause? That didn't turn out to be quite the case when Mira

Nair, one of India's most feted directors, went about making a film

on the AIDS epidemic. The cause became an obstacle.

" Several Bollywood stars hemmed and hawed about coming on board, " she

said after the premiere of Mira Nair Presents: Four Views of AIDS in

India at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival. " There wasn't

much money involved and some of the actors I approached weren't too

keen to do a film on AIDS. One leading star said yes and backed out

at the eleventh hour. So I had a few false starts, " Nair said after

the screening, stopping short of revealing names.

The lively quartet of short fiction films, with Santosh Sivan, Vishal

Bharadwaj and Farhan Akhtar directing the other three, played before

a packed Isabel Bader Theatre, with each segment receiving a round of

spontaneous applause. Nair's company, Mirabai Films, in collaboration

with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has produced the films.

They are likely to go into theatrical distribution in India soon.

Nair's segment, featuring Irrfan Khan, Shiney Ahuja, Raima Sen and

Sameera Reddy, narrates the tale of a construction worker who sleeps

with a Mumbai housewife and ends up infecting his own wife back in

the village and his newly born child. Nair said the film is inspired

by a true story from 15 years ago. " This virus makes no distinctions

of class, caste or sexual orientation, " she added.

Pankaj Kapur, Siddharth (of Rang De Basanti fame) and Ayesha Takia

did work for free for Bharadwaj's segment, Blood Brothers, about two

men with the same name whose AIDS test reports get interchanged. " But

some actors were worried about the stigma associated with AIDS and

shied away from the project, " said the director .

Bharadwaj confessed " it was my duty " to do this film. " Five or six

years ago I sacked a cook who had tested HIV-positive. I didn't have

the necessary awareness back then. Now I feel terribly guilty, " he

added.

Does he worry that not many people might watch this film? " Not at

all. Even if one person sees it and chooses to change, I'll be

happy, " Bharadwaj said.

According to Nair, an elaborate distribution plan is already in

place. A two-and-a-half-minute trailer with clips from all the four

films will be played before Bollywood blockbusters around the

country. And in the week running up to the World AIDS Day on December

1, the films will be released in the multiplexes as a single 80-

minute feature.

" We have made these films for mainstream Indian audiences, " said

Nair. " The idea is get the message across in a lively, popular style.

That is why all four films have recognisable names in the cast. "

Farhan Akhtar's film, Positive, about a philandering photographer who

falls prey to AIDS even as his young son drifts away from him, has

Boman Irani in the principal role, with Shabana Azmi playing his

wife.

Santosh Sivan's segment, the Kannada-language Prarambha, the story of

a boy who is dismissed from his school because his parents were HIV-

positive, stars Prabhu Deva, Ramya and B Saroja Devi. " I had little

trouble getting them on board, " Sivan revealed. " Prabhu asked me

whether it was a music video. I said no. He then asked whether he was

playing a character that had AIDS. I said no. I simply told him to be

himself. He did just that without much fuss. "

Are more films in the series on the way? " This is a first for us, "

said Ashok of the Gates Foundation. " If we get enough

eyeballs, we will definitely build on this project. " The idea, said

Nair, is to get four more Indian directors to tackle different

aspects of the AIDS awareness theme next year.

Getting Bollywood star power to put its weight behind this cause

might not be quite that easy.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/215522.html