Deepa Mehta's "Water" wows Toronto Film Fest

Mandsaur

Deepa Mehta's final film in her Elemental trilogy (after Earth and Fire) has made a big splash as the opening night film Thursday at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival. According to Rediff:

Water, starring John Abraham and Lisa Ray, is about the ill treatment of widows in the 1930s. It was initially supposed to star Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, but the shooting in the temple town of Varanasi was abandoned five years ago following agitations by conservatives who did not want it to be shot there.

Mehta, who made the film almost secretly in Sri Lanka, has given the film a bleak and urgent look. And she has not hesitated to make it as bold and threatening (to the establishment) as she had envisaged it five years ago. There are several beautiful and exhilarating moments in the film that stars a surprisingly solid Abraham as an idealist lawyer, Seema Biswas as a woman with a conscience, Ray as a rebellious widow and newcomer Sarala.

I personally can't wait to see it. Full article is here.

soulfood

I'm a bit surprised about the cast. John Abraham... in an artish movie? And I really can't imagine Lisa Ray as a Bengali.

passingby

Mike and I just came back from watching this movie.
This is a masterpiece, amazing movie, very well filmed and really well done.
Bravo! Deepa Mehta is a real artist. By far this is the best movie she has ever done.

I really recommend it to everybody.

suncity

Well Lisa Ray is half Bengali.

BTW the movie story is alleged to have been borrowed without permission from the famous Bengali novelist Sunil Ganguly's novel Sei Somoy (Those Days).

In 2000 a journalist had noted the similarity and had gone to court on behalf of the writer and publisher.

In 2001 Deepa Mehta had said that she would sue Mr Ganguly for defamation.

Just a few days back Ms Mehta said that she would settle the original 'plagiarism' case out of court.

edwardseco

I hope its better than Fire..

Hyderabadi

Just settling down to watch 'Bolywood Hollywood'.

passingby

after doing some research on the internet on this issue, I’ve learnt that yes there were some similarities between the movie script and the Bengali novel. but I've also learnt that she might have used as an inspiration. the novel is fairly complex and her movie is a different scenario. maybe she used some parts of the book as an inspiration.
I have also learnt that Deepa Mehta had an awful time shooting this movie in India that is why she had to shoot it in secrecy in Sri Lanka. Indian people have not been very nice to her at all, nor supportive of her movies. I wouldn't be surprised if the allegations that the Bengali writer placed on Deepa Mehta originated from the same anger that all the other Indian people have, the ones who made her life hell when filming in India.

The movie is not a Bollywood/Hollywood version. It is an independent movie. As I know Deepa Mehta lives in Toronto. Canadian films are mostly independent films, and usually very good.
I found the film to be extraordinary and please do not criticize this film without seeing it. Go watch it and then criticize.

I think it is one of the best movies I have seen in a while.
I loved the way it was shot, I loved the way it was acted and let's say that even if the script might have been an inspiration from somewhere else, she did an amazing job on the movie.

and yes, the movie is a lot better than Fire.

passingby

an interesting article to read if you want to find out the hell behind filming 'Water'.

It is the story told by an australian camera assistant working on the movie:

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/28/water.html

jgv

It's on in Sydney now so will go to see it.

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