Indo-American director Ben Rekhi, who was nominated for the coveted Golden Peacock at IFFI this year, spoke to Saimi Sattar about his quest for authenticity and why bridging cultures is a part of his DNA
Indo-American director Ben Rekhi has helmed projects which go behind the scenes of headline news and delve into the aftermath of tragic events. He founded Drops Entertainment to produce his first feature film, Bomb the System, which was nominated for the 2004 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and distributed by Palm Pictures. His directorial debut, Waterborne, was the runner-up for the narrative audience prize at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival, and Car Babes, which he produced, premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival.
Rekhi has also directed The Ashram (2016) featuring Sam Keeley, Kal Penn, Melissa Leo, and Radhika Apte. In the country for Watch List, which was nominated for the coveted Golden Peacock at International Film Festival of India, the artist spoke at length about the kind of films he makes and his search for authenticity. The film is a crime thriller set in Philippines. It is the story of a widowed mother who is forced to enter Manila’s dark underworld of cops, criminals and drugs after her husband is murdered in an extra-judicial killing.
Being nominated for the best film at IFFI 2019, what does it mean to you?
I have a strong connection with India. I’ve worked here for two years and done some projects. So it is great to come back and be in competition at the festival.
Your several films have cross-cultural references and artists. What does that add to a film?
The exciting thing is not to put people in one box. I love that I have been able to do genre films, drama and managed to experiment with something I call socio realism. This story needs to be told right now as reality has to be related truthfully.
Wouldn’t that be somebody’s version of the truth and not necessarily that of the others?
Yes, of course. But any story is an interpretation of reality. Even right now I am doing a documentary called the Reunited States, which is about how people overcome political divisions. It is my first documentary. But it doesn’t matter if it is fiction or non-fiction. Non-fiction tells you what happened and fiction tells you what it feels like. They both serve a different purpose.
Since you’ve done both, which one do you like to engage with?
The medium doesn’t matter. It is just the story and the world that it exists in. It is very exciting not to be limited to any one genre and just go by my inspiration.
What kind of research did Watch List need?
I was inspired by a photograph that I saw which went viral where a woman was cradling her dead husband, who had been shot by the police. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I called the journalist who had done the story, who invited me to see what was happening. I ended up being embedded with these journalists for three weeks. I talked to the victims’ families and the stories that I heard weren’t being reported or told to a broader audience. So I wanted to take what I was hearing into the homes of people to help them understand the realities on the ground. I researched for a month and then the shoot took about another month.
Many of your films are journalistic in nature...
There is journalism around it. But what this does is that it humanises the story. While the headlined story is what happened and how many people were killed, what I was interested in was what happens in the aftermath or how does the family cope with the father being murdered. There was a moment when I was in a slum waiting with the family for a dead body to be brought back, that I saw the teenage son. It made me realise that this was the side of the story that was not being told. Watch List delves into that.
Also there is a lot of similarity between the rise of territorialism and what is happening in US and western Europe. A lot of leaders are making this bargain with the public that if you give me your freedom, you are safe. It is a dangerous road to go down. In Philippines, they are virtually getting away with murder. This was meant to be a cautionary tale. It was a good way to explore a lot of themes.
Does actually witnessing a death make it more of an emotional experience for you and hence difficult to film?
Watch List is a fictional story but based on true events. You have to go through it to reproduce the moment truthfully. Of course, witnessing a dead body makes you emotional. I saw more dead bodies in six weeks than in my entire life. It is hard to erase those images. It was devastating. Journalists reporting there are the ones in the frontline who put their lives in danger. And I have the utmost respect for them. I went to the crime scene for a couple nights and they do it every (emphasises) night. Seven hundred days straight and different crime scenes!
A lot of people say that film-making is telling a story but I feel film-making is listening deeply, absorbing and trying to reproduce it truthfully. Even if it is sci-fi or period piece, authenticity comes from listening.
Would you say witnessing such incidents as opposed to hearing it second hand adds more layers to the story?
As someone who is a half-Indian and half-American film maker, I ask myself why do I feel compelled to go and direct this film. And I wonder, how do I know I can do it? But I don’t think that we choose stories any more, the stories choose us. I feel like I was given this task. For me, listening and researching was important as an outsider for if I could not get the story right then I would be doing a disservice. If it was not authentic, it would be disrespectful to the people who are suffering there. For me the research part was critical because as an outsider I had double the pressure to get it right.
Telling the truth can be dangerous. Was there any real threat to life?
We had gone to make a film because we were exposing an atrocity that was still happening. It was suggested that we shoot on a film set so that everyone was safe. But when I saw it, I realised it wouldn’t look authentic so I really pushed for us to shoot in the real neighbourhood where the murders took place. At night there would be executions on the streets and during the day we were shooting at those places. It was definitely scary at times and was a difficult shoot. A plane crashed into our sets and typhoons flooded the location. At one point I was hospitalised. But in the end it is authentic so it was worth it. We put ourselves in the condition so that you could feel you were there.
Does being an Indian American give you a unique perspective where you can reach out to a wider audience?
I grew up in two distinct cultures, almost two different worlds. I was going to a Sikh gurudwara on one weekend and the church, the next. Bridging cultures and divides has been a part of my DNA since the beginning. I’ve lived in a number of places and when you see the common humanity everywhere, it comes handy for a story teller trying to find his connections. Going into the Philippines, I felt comfortable since I had already worked in Mumbai in similar conditions.
The world turning right is something that we did not expect in the 21st century. As an artist, do you think that it is your duty to put out that it is not right?
I think these cycles happen in swings. I do not see it as left and right but more in the context of whether we are treating each other right, fairly and with dignity. Those are the bigger questions that drive me as a filmmaker. I want to use films and stories to challenge the way people wish to see themselves and the world. I want to break the illusions that we hold about what matters. Cinema is a window into the human condition and it can give you a front row seat into someone else’s life. Maybe even a war that you’ve never been. It allows you to be a fly on the wall and see everything that is happening private and public. Cinema is an incredibly powerful tool.
Working with stalwarts like George Clooney and Shabana Azmi must have been a learning experience...
Working with George Clooney was incredible. One thing that people don’t know is that he is a practical joker and pulls pranks on people. He is one of the most humble people that I’ve met. I think that was one learning that you can be successful and be a good person because a lot of times you feel that success will bring out the worse in a person.
Shabana is incredibly gifted. Acting is one of the hardest things to do and I have utmost respect for people who can embody and live in that truth.
Radhika Apte is a real force, one of the kindest people that I have met who is also extremely talented.
When you meet someone who is incredibly talented and also has his/her feet on the ground, it is something.
Did you have any idea growing up that this is what you would be dong?
When I was growing up, I made movies in the backyard with my friends. I actually miss those days because there was no pressure of making money. We did it because we actually loved it. One of the things that I’ve tried to do as I get older is to get back to that space of creating. The death of art is when we start thinking of the commercial or the money side of it. Of course, you need to consider that but thinking too much about it adulterates the creative process. So in some ways I try to channel my inner child in making movies now.
What are the future projects that you are working on?
Reunited States is in production. We have been shooting it for the last one and a half years. It shows how media can be a part of the solution of what brings us back together. This new film challenges the idea that vision is something that is happening to us and saying that it is something that is happening within us. Each of us have a role in overcoming divisions. So we each have a responsibility.
I have a new script that we would be shooting next year. And two Indian projects that I would be pursuing next year but it is too early to discuss them.
Do you think that the idea of exotica being peddled in The Ashram?
I think for better or worse, the major Indian export to the West has been spirituality. That is a double-edged sword. While there is the idea that India has the answers to questions and perspectives about who we are and where we came from, this has been commercialised and stereotyped. It is exciting to do a film that channelises both the energies. For someone who has had an intersection of East and West, there were stereotypes like the Beetles coming to India or yoga as a commodity. So what the film tried to do was invite people through that window that is familiar and then challenge their preconceptions.