A Quote by Rasika Dugal

Salaam Bombay' and 'Monsoon Wedding' are the two Mira Nair films I go back to. — © Rasika Dugal
Salaam Bombay' and 'Monsoon Wedding' are the two Mira Nair films I go back to.
'Devdas' isn't a real film. It isn't in the same genre as Mira Nair's 'Monsoon Wedding,' where the camera's presence is so understated it almost disappears.
I don't think international cinema is ready to embrace mainstream Indian cinema unconditionally. Even Mira Nair's 'Monsoon Wedding' didn't get to the Oscars after being nominated for the Golden Globe Awards.
Films were always a passion for me but it was when I saw 'Salaam Bombay' that I decided that it was film direction that I was interested in. That is when I decided I wanted to direct films.
It was only when I saw films in my early 20s by Jane Campion, Mira Nair, Sally Potter and Kathryn Bigelow, I started to think, 'Oh, it's possible.' I dared to suggest that I wanted to train to be a film director.
I loved 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'Lunchbox' because they had 'real' stories. I wish there are more films made like them.
'Salaam Bombay' didn't put a halo on the poor. Instead, it said that they will teach us how to live.
I had read Jhumpa Lahiri's 'Namesake' and thought it would make a fabulous film, as I could identify with the central character. When Mira Nair announced the film, I wanted to do the role. When it fell into my lap, I was over the moon.
You know, my endeavour is to blend into the larger picture. That was one of the strengths of my acting in 'Monsoon Wedding.'
When I did Mira Nair's film on AIDS, people told me to stay away from it and even asked me reasons why I chose to do a film on the stigma. My reason for choosing the movie is similar. It is a social reality and there is no harm being a part of a movie like this as it really dissects the reality of the crisis.
Sometimes it hurts when I see my role being edited. But that wasn't the case with '15 Park Avenue... ' or 'Monsoon Wedding.'
My family is almost exactly like the one in 'Monsoon Wedding'. We are very open, fairly liberal, loud people.
Bombay is far ahead of Bengal in the matter of female education. I have visited some of the best schools in Bengal and Bombay, and I can say from my own experience that there are a larger number of girls receiving public education in Bombay than in Bengal; but while Bengal has not come up to Bombay as far as regarded extent of education, Bengal is not behind Bombay in the matter of solidarity and depth.
While we were shooting the movie, we shot in the actual hotel in Hong Kong where it all went down, the Mira Hotel. Laura Poitras was coming to Hong Kong to do a screening of Citizenfour, and she ended up staying at the Mira Hotel. It was her first time back in Hong Kong, and I ran into her in the elevator. Literally I had just finished shooting one day, and I came back to the hotel and she was in the elevator.
Like an ox-cart driver in monsoon season or the skipper of a grounded ship, one must sometimes go forward by going back.
When I moved to Bombay, it was very harsh. I was nothing like what I am today. I couldn't speak a word of English. In England, people might be very understanding about that, but in Bombay, they're not very forgiving. 'If you don't speak English, how do you expect to work in Hindi films?'
Most of the top actors and actresses may be working in ten or twelve films at the same time, so they will give one director two hours and maybe shoot in Bombay in the morning and Madras in the evening. It happens.
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