AN INTERVIEW WITH SOONI TARAPOREVALA

In case you are a film aficionado, you must know Sooni Taraporevala. A scriptwriter par excellence with films such as Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala and The Namesake to her credit, Sooni is also an accomplished photographer. Her photo-book "Parsis: the Zoroastrians of India - A Photographic Journey" remains a much-admired work. For her work in Salaam Bombay she received the Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film while Mississippi Masala brought her the Osella award for Best Screenplay at the 1991 Venice Film Festival. Enough for a lifetime, you say? Well, you are wrong. Sooni Taraporevala has just donned a new mantle - that of a director. Her maiden venture "Little Ziziou" is slated for an all India release on the 13th of March. And if her past record is anything to go by, then this story of two Parsi families in conflict - one headed by a humbug religious bigot, the other by a reforming journalist promises to keep you enthralled.
Here is an interview with this lady of multiple talents who also happens to be a great human being (that she accepted this interview request from me just proves it).

Me: First of all congratulations on "Little Zizou" - your first film as a director.
Sooni Taraporevala: Thank you Sujoy.

Me: Sooni, you are a person who has dabbled in a lot of things and quite successfully at that. So, out of screenwriting, directing or photography which is it that gives you most joy and satisfaction and why?
Sooni Taraporevala: I love doing all 3 Sujoy - though I must say screenwriting is something I have grown a bit tired of having done it for 24 years; and also now that I've tasted the thrill of directing which is stressful but also really really exciting. As a director I loved working with so many talented people. It's an honor and a privilege to have so many poeple working so hard to help you realise your vision.

Me: Be it photography or films, a sizeable portion of your work deals with the Parsi community. Is it a conscious decision that you take or is it more like following your inner urge?
Sooni Taraporevala: Actually that's a wrong perception though I can see why you think this. In 24 years of screenwriting and some 20 odd scripts - only 2 have dealt with Parsis - "Such a Long Journey" - which was adapted from Rohinton Mistry's novel in 1997 and now "Little Zizou" in 2009. All my other scripts had absolutely nothing to do with Parsis at all.
After a lifetime of writing about far ranging subjects and people - like Afro Americans in Mississippi, AIDS patients in Tennessee, legalized prostitution in Nevada, homeless kids in LA etc - I finally metaphorically came home and wrote a story that takes place in my own backyard, so to speak. (Because of course very few people in Bombay have backyards!).

Me: We all have our own colourful and sometimes impossible dreams when we are young. As a student studying English Literature, Film and Photography at Harvard did you ever think that you would end up getting an award for the very first film you worked in?
Sooni Taraporevala: Never! Not in my wildest dreams. That is what is so exciting and terrifying about life isn't it? Its unpredictability. Anything can happen - good or bad - in the blink of an eye and your life can change completely - for the better or for the worse.

Me: You have had a long and successful association with Mira Nair. How did it all start?
Sooni Taraporevala: We were foreign students at Harvard together - at a time when there were just a handful of undergraduates from India. We met in 1976 and have been friends, and partners in crime since then. 10 years after we first became friends we worked together on "Salaam Bombay"!

Me: Coming back to "Little Zizou", the short but delightful promo says "What do you expect from a movie written and directed by a Parsi starring Parsis...". Well Sooni, what should we, as viewers, expect?
Sooni Taraporevala: I think you can expect to laugh most of the time, cry a little, relate many of the events and feelings to your own life and leave the theatre with a smile on your face and a desire to see it again and again:)

Me: "Little Zizou" is a story set in Bombay about two Parsi families at conflict , why did you choose to tell the story from the 11-year old football-crazy Xerxes' perspective?
Sooni Taraporevala: That came later - originally there was no narrator. But there was some public pareshani with so many characters so I made Little Zizou the character who takes you through the story. He seemed the natural choice for being the sutredhar.

Me: You cast and crew is a motley lot, consisting of people like Boman Irani, Cyrus Broacha, John Abraham, Shiamak Davar, Bickram Ghosh and Sanath Banerjee. How did you manage to rope them in together? Was there a sort of friends' network working overtime?
Sooni Taraporevala: I've known all of them (except John, Bickram and Sarnath) for a very long time.
John I met in his trailer when he was shooting "No Smoking" - when he heard it was a film set in the Parsi world he agreed to do it in exchange for homecooked dhansak. Naturally I agreed and would happily supply him with a lifetime of dhansak dal!
Boman I first met around 1996 when I went to see the play I'm "Not Bajirao". I was just blown away by his peformance and even more stunned to discover backstage that he was not an old man at all. I've wanted to work with him since those days because I think he is one of the most fiercely talented actors we have. He was so incredibly generous. And he brought so much to a role that was the most under written in the script. It's not easy to play a "good family man" without making him into a huge bore.
Shiamak is my angel. I have known him since the days when he was a struggling and very talented dancer. I have complete admiration for him. It wasn't easy in those days to be in 'unconventional' professions. Dance? Te vari soo? All very well to dance in your free time but as a profession you were expected to be a lawyer, doctor or accountant. Shiamak has proved all his detractors gloriously wrong! For me his greatest achievement has been that all his thousands of students adore and love him. He was and continues to be one of Little Zizou's most ardent well wishers.
Now for my Bawa-Bong connection.
Sarnath called me some years ago to ask permission to use some of my Parsi photos for a comic he was doing. I had forgotten this but he reminded me of this when I called him many years later to ask him if he would do the drawings for the film. I loved his book "Corridor" and at the time he was India's first and only graphic novelist. We corresponded for a long time without physically meeting. I sent him earlier drafts of the script and he sent me back drawings of certain scenes that I added in this photo booklet I had made to accompany the script. Much later I met him when he came to town and introduced him to Imaad. He gave Imaad many tips and pointers. The drawings are a huge hit with all audiences who have seen the film. It helped that Sarnath is as whacky as I am!
And last but not least - Bickram...I'm not a person who is very musical, or who keeps up with music trends/releases. I enjoy listening - and that's it. My friend Aurobind Patel had loaded my I-pod with music and there was an album there that I loved - two tracks really evoked certain scenes in my script. The album was "Rhytmnscape", the tracks were "Rhythmn Speaks" and "Language of Innocence". From the cover art I couldn't tell whether the group was called "Rhythmscape", and how this person Bickram Ghosh fit into the picture. When we went to Kolkata for the premiere of "The Namesake" I resolved to track down this Mr Bickram Ghosh. In the plane opened the newspaper and there he was on Page 3. On the streets from the airport he was everywhere on hoardings advertising - I think it was dahi...and then we finally met. Since then we have worked closely together - he is an incredible person and musician. I really enjoyed being in Kolkata and watching with admiration as he and his musicians made the scenes from Little Zizou resonate with feeling with their music.

Me: Now that the almost everything is complete except for the frantic last-moment activities leading up to the release, how was the experience of directing your first film? Any plans on making another one soon?
Sooni Taraporevala: The experience was fantastic. A dream run. No traumas. No horror stories. Thanks to my wonderful cast and my top-of-the-line crew to whom I owe so much. Little Zizou was made with lots of love and laughter and it shows.
About the future - who knows? I have never planned anything. As I said before - I love the unpredictability of life.

Me: Thank you, Sooni, for your time and patience in answering the questions. Best of luck for "Little Zizou" and hope that it emulates the success of your other works. We all look forward to watching many more of your films in the years to come.
Sooni Taraporevala: Thank you so much Sujoy. Please spread the word and please try and see it on the opening weekend of March 13th as these days films seem to be judged primarily by their opening numbers!

The official premiere is on the 12th of March at the Nariman Point INOX in Mumbai. I will, however, have to wait till the next day to catch "Little Zizou" at the INOX here in Kolkata. And for those of you who missed the promos, here it is: