Directors Deepa Mehta and Myna Mukherjee talk to Chahak Mittal about how films can be made more inclusive of human rights and focus on showcasing humanity, especially in these uncertain times of a pandemic 

Funny Boy is an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s eponymous novel. How do you think film adaptations do justice to the actual story as a film cannot delve very deep into a character like a book or we can say, some things can get lost in translation?

Deepa: This is the third book that I am adapting into a film. I have adapted Bapsi Sidhwa’s book for Ice Candy Man; Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and now, Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. Shyam and I worked very closely on this. I had a great time doing it. It took me some time before I agreed and Shyam sent me the script. I told him that I was doing it only because he was involved.

Oscars is looked at as the ‘once in a lifetime’ dream. You have been fortunate enough to receive it once and now are in the race for the second time (for Funny Boy). How are you taking it? What was your reaction when you got to know about it the first time?

Deepa: Oscars is something that I am very honoured to be considered for. Even though the submissions have changed, every time there’s been something that has come up, it has only led on to something even better. That has been the nature and fate of this film. So, I am excited that the film is being sent to the best picture category.

I can only hope that the Indian audience connects with this. This is a film about prejudice, overcoming it and healing from love.

What do you think is the role of cinema during these uncertain times of a pandemic?

Myna: Looking back at 2020, I felt it was an unpredictable time, an unthinkable year and very unprecedented days. A year ‘zero’, it can be called. As I look back upon those months of extraordinary challenges, insurmountable losses and deeply unsettling fears, I feel this huge debt of gratitude to one of the only refuges we have had — cinema. It has been the antidote, the safe space that kept us engaged and kept families and friends close in conversation through the social distancing that COVID-19 imposed. Cinema brought us together in moments of laughter, thrill and adventure, mystery, and most of all, empathy. Good cinema is a call to action. It moves people, rouses us from apathy and reminds us of our shared humanity.

How do you think cinema can be more inclusive of human rights? How do you think I-View World represents such cinema?

Myna: I believe that during this time, more than ever, of a profound, shared crisis across the world, we need to put the spotlight on the ‘human’ in humanity. As individuals and communities struggle to face the devastation of the pandemic, the impact on basic human rights, including access to medical and economic survival, is felt most severely by those on the margins and the ones, who are already impacted by stark inequalities.

‘I-View World 2020’ is a curation of more than 50 unconfinable, unflinching narratives that are powerful, transformative, intersectional and intergenerational. These are the stories of freedom, choice, equality and justice but they are also reminders of histories — sometimes failed ones, but with the potential for newer visions of the future. Together, they lend solidarity, amplify concerns and ask urgent questions about belonging and identity, marginality and community, sexuality and gender, ecology and climate change. In short, these beautiful, remarkable films reflect the complex world around us. The idea is to channel both the aesthetics and politics of the moving image to gain cultural insight and to understand art at the intersections of visual activism.

Deepa: I-View World 2020 was an innovative, courageous and liberating film festival. I was really honoured, bemused and chuffed up to be a part of such an important event — which became all the more relevant because of these dark COVID-19 times.

What was the criteria of choosing the films for the same?

Myna: We thought much about our structure before choosing a hybrid format. While most of the screening was virtual, we decided to add a few physical screenings as an important gesture towards strengthening our commitment to the future of film and filmmakers, the industry and the theatres that were hit the hardest. Needless to say, the scale of the screenings will be a fraction of what they typically are and will follow comprehensive COVID-19 regulations. For us, the screenings are symbolic of resistance and an insistence that art is vital and will persist. It encouraged the audience to support the cinema of tomorrow and let filmmakers explore newer projects with an open eye.