Telling Nadia's Tale - Dorothee Wenner

"I find it ironic that for a country where films are woven into the very fabric of daily existence, there’s so little preservation of Indian Film history.”says Dorothee Wenner, a German film-maker and the author of ‘Fearless Nadia: The True Story of Bollywood’s Original Stunt Queen’.  

As a programmer on special assignment for Indian films at the Berlin Film Festival, Dorothee is a true Bollywood-phile, if ever there was such a word! She can rattle off trivia about Indian Films, and has also made a film about the Mercedes in Bollywood films! 

Dorothee was in Chennai this week, for the screening of Riyad Vinci Wadia’s documentary, ‘Fearless - The Hunterwali Story’, that inspired her to write the book.  

“In 1995, I watched Riyad’s documentary on Nadia and it immediately captured my imagination. Coincidentally, a German publishing house also approached me at around that time, to write a book on a female rebel of my choice. So, I chose to work on Nadia’s story, and arrived in Bombay, still unsure of how this project would go off.”, says Dorothee.  

One invaluable source of information and assistance for Dorothee to set about researching and documenting the life of Nadia, was Riyad, who had made the documentary that had inspired her. Riyad was also the grand nephew of Nadia and the scion of Wadia Movietone, the film company that had launched and furthered Nadia’s career.  

“Riyad helped me with translations, as well as shared with me, the background work he had done for his own documentary. The Wadia family history itself, can easily fill up 12 huge trunks!”, says Dorothee. 

One incident that stands out in her mind, was the time they interviewed Pramila, an actress and contemporary to Devika Rani, as also, the first Miss. India in 1947. Dorothee reminisces, “Pramila had become so old and frail, that I wondered whether we should just abandon the interview. She also fainted twice in our presence due to excitement. However, she insisted we stay, and she did narrate many interesting things about that era.”  

So, what was it about Nadia, that inspired Dorothee? “Her indomitable spirit. For a blonde, blue-eyed, busty white girl to capture the collective imagination of Indians in the pre-Independence era, was no mean feat! Add to that the stunts she did! She was, along with the Wadias, a pioneer in the Stunt Film Genre in India. I pride myself for being a feminist, but Nadia represented a fearlessness with a dash of sparkling wit, that’s unmatched in any actress of any era.” 

Dorothee Wenner’s book ‘Fearless Nadia: The True Story of Bollywood’s Original Stunt Queen’ was originally published in German in 1999. It has since been translated by Rebecca Morrison and launched in India recently and is available at bookstores in the city.

(edited version published on March 19, 2005 in Madras Plus, the city features supplement of The Economic Times, Chennai. Pic courtesy Seven Shots, as published in Madras Plus)

American Desi - An Interview with Stephen Alter

“While working on my book, ‘Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border’, I travelled in a 3rd class compartment by train to Pakistan. Although it’s just a distance of 40 kilometres, it took nearly 15 hours, for the authorities to check the travel documents of all the passengers. I did have the option of taking a flight, but I wouldn’t trade it for the experience!” says Stephen Alter, who was in Chennai last week to speak on creative writing to students at a few city colleges.

Having collaborated on 2 screenplays, and written 4 books each of fiction and narrative non-fiction, not to mention innumerable short stories and reviews, the word, ‘prolific’ comes nowhere near describing Stephen Alter!

Those looking to dismiss him as an American tourist enamoured by Indian mysticism, may please note that Stephen is a third generation American in India belonging to Mussoorie. He studied there at Woodstock School, before moving to the US for further studies and research. At one time, he even taught Hindi at the American Embassy School in New Delhi, although he doubts very much if his students learned any Hindi from him! And yes, he is cousin to Tom Alter, a familiar face in Hindi films and English theatre.

Having straddled various genre in his writing, Stephen says, “It’s been a long time since one of my novels has been published, and a couple of them are still lying at home, waiting for a publisher. I still think of myself as a writer of fiction, although my recent books have been in the area of narrative non-fiction.”

Stephen’s foray into narrative non-fiction began with a memoir of his Mussoorie days. He then wrote about the journey from Amritsar to Lahore. For the next book, ‘Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture’, he undertook a Padyatra!

Stephen Alter’s latest book is Elephas Maximus: A Portrait of the Indian Elephant. “The subject itself was very interesting, and the research gave me the opportunity to visit wildlife sanctuaries and travel extensively across different parts of India from Kerala to Assam.”

Under the Fulbright Research Grant, he is currently based in Mussoorie, researching for his new book on nature-related folktales from the Himalayas. “Do you know that although some birds are common to different habitats, the folklore concerning them are different?” He says, of stories about bird-calls, that were his inspiration for the project.

India is at the heart of Stephen’s writing, be it fiction or non-fiction. Add travel to that equation, and you have one contented soul in Stephen Alter.

(edited version published on March 18, 2005 in Madras Plus, the city features supplement of The Economic Times, Chennai. Pic courtesy Seven Shots as published in magazine.)

When the Pen's mightier than the Sword

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! – Maya Angelou 

How does one go about making a list of women in Chennai who make a difference in the literary world? A formidable task, as the list of women would include not just writers, but also poets, editors, translators and publishers. How does one even begin to describe all that immense talent in an article? 

Here are snapshots of some women, who are whipping up a storm not just in Chennai, but also across India and the world. The women featured here form just a cross-section of the literary talent in the city. And this article provides a mere glimpse into the range and depth of their work in the literary world. The underlying thread that binds them all, is a ‘never-say-die’ attitude. And whose way with words, provokes thought, stirs the imagination, or simply, makes someone smile. 

Sivasankari
With 30 novels, 13 travelogues, 2 biographies, 150 short stories & novellas, and innumerable articles, ‘prolific’ doesn’t come anywhere near describing Sivasankari.

Much of her work is issue-based, such as her books on alcoholism, drug-abuse and the condition of the elderly. Her work has transcended media, and been produced as TV programs, of which ‘Oru Manithanin Kathai’ on alcoholism and ‘Subah’, a Hindi television serial, based on her novel, ‘Avan’, made her a household name.

Her latest project is ‘Knit India through Literature’, a unique initiative to publish volumes of interviews with writers of 18 languages, along with some information on the cultural and literary heritage of each language.

Instilling thought has been Sivasankari’s constant endeavour, and writing is just one expression to that objective.

Mini Krishnan
To Mini Krishnan goes the credit of the work of Indian language writers finding appropriate expression in English. As a Translations Editor at Oxford University Press, she not only edits, but also has the responsibility of sourcing translations.

One of the major responsibilities she has undertaken, is as Project and Series Editor for ‘Modern Indian Novels in English Translation’, involving translation of 55 novels from 11 Indian languages!

Mini’s most recent success has been the series of books for school children ‘Living in Harmony’ – a value based series for classes 1- 8.

Sandhya Rao
From journalism to writing books for children, has been a leap for Sandhya, editor at Tulika Publishers.

She wears many hats – idea bank, writer, editor, translator, book consultant, resource person – and is adept at juggling the roles, especially when more keep getting added on from time to time.

Sandhya has authored 14 books (of which 4 are part of a series), and translated 3 books, all for children. She is now working on a picture book in verse, ‘Busy Busy Grand-ant’.

Radhika Menon
Radhika is Managing Editor of Tulika Publishers, an organisation that prides itself on producing high quality books for children in English and 7 Indian languages. She’s also the Director of Goodbooks, a bookstore and activity centre for children.

Children have been at the core of each of Radhika’s past assignments, be it teaching or in producing programs for children in Malayalam. She also conceptualised the first full-length animation serial to be made in India, ‘Tara ki Duniya’.

Radhika is currently engaged in producing a multi-disciplinary, multi-level workbook in Tamil for tsunami-affected children in the 4 to 10 years age-group. An interesting upcoming project for Tulika is a story based on a play, ‘Magic Horse’, that’s being co-published by Kattai Koothu Sangam. 

Anushka Ravishankar
Nonsense Verse is what Anushka loves best, and she’s responsible for bringing to the fore, Indian English nonsense verse.

She’s written 8 books that range in style from alphabet book to absurd verse, and co-authored 5 other books. Anushka has won many accolades for her writing, with ‘Tiger on a Tree’ winning 4 international awards.

As a playwright, Anushka has written 9 plays, not all for children. She’s currently co-editing an anthology of Indian Nonsense Verse and there are 4 books for children in the pipeline. Also, a musical for children based on Kipling’s (not Disney’s) Jungle Book. 

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi
Literature runs in her family, and Kanimozhi is considered a refreshing new voice in contemporary Tamil poetry.

Her columns in publications and her poems, written since she was in her early twenties, have been published as 4 books, the most recent anthologies being ‘Agathinai’ and ‘Karukkum Marudhani’.

In 2004, Kanimozhi also wrote the script for a production, ‘Silappadhikaaram…a Story of Women of Substance’, where she tread the fine line between contemporising the work and at the same time, retaining the flavour and context of the original.

(edited version published on March 8, 2005 in a Womens' Day Special for Madras Plus, the city features supplement of The Economic Times, Chennai)

Pulling Strings - Ram Lal

"Man has less freedom today, than puppets!" This statement, from innovative folk puppeteer, Ram Lal from Dehra Dun, dispelled all my notions of a run-of-the-mill interview! 

"People are constrained by too many things today. For some, relationships are binding, For others, responsibilities. People are not free to even speak their mind without drawing flak. But a puppet can freely express itself!" says Ram Lal, who’s in the city to conduct a series of puppetry workshops courtesy Goodbooks. 

Hailing from a 4^th generation family of puppeteers from Rajasthan, Ram Lal found that in its traditional form, puppetry with wooden marionettes is tough. Also, the stories were always the same. So, he started working with NGOs, using puppetry, and developed new themes on various issues. As he didn’t find inner growth in this too, he spent 8 years in the Himalayas and is now part of a non-registered non-funded commune called Sanchar in Dehradun.  

"Subsequently, my puppets changed to nature-related ones, as nature is an intrinsic part of life, and cannot be bypassed. However, I stopped writing stories, and now the audience and I collaborate on the story and the issues. There’s a constant debate in the story, and the story evolves based on the decisions of the audience. Even the end is open-ended to enable introspection. However, the end has to make people take that first step forward.",he says. 

For example, in one childrens’ workshop in Rajasthan, the theme of alcoholism was taken up. The session began enactment of an alcoholic husband beating up his wife and kids. The wife then asks the audience how she should handle this issue. The audience makes suggestions, and she weighs the pros and cons of all the options, including asking the bootlegger not to run his business. It finally ends with an audience member summarising the next step. 

Ram Lal visited the UK last year, for what was initially a ten-day workshop, which extended to a 3-month one. On that trip, he had also worked with children with special needs. He cites the example of an extremely introverted child who started expressing himself and sharing his experiences with his parents. 

"For a puppeteer to be effective, he has to be spontaneous. Things that come from the heart reach straight into the audience’s heart. That spontaneity only happens when one’s body, mind and heart are aligned.", says this travel-loving puppeteer, who has already travelled to Norway, Pakistan, Nepal, U.K. , loves Czech puppets and wants to someday open his own puppet museum.

Pic Courtesy Seven Shots, as published in Madras Plus

How Mani? - An evening with Mani Ratnam

Normally, when noted film director Mani Ratnam attends an event in the city, people descend to the venue in droves to see, listen and hopefully, speak to him. And in an event that included a retrospective of his films, coupled with the DVD release of some of his movies, there was a near stampede. On Saturday, 26th February, even thirty minutes before the event, there was a dearth of chairs for the audience at Landmark’s Nungambakkam bookstore. 

Navin Jayakumar, Master of Ceremonies and Quiz Master-extraordinaire, enthralled the audience with his questions to ‘Mani’, his questions to the audience, and humourous repartees to the mike-grabbers in the audience. The big man himself, was no less – his sense of humour was in fine form, as he deftly handled many a bouncer from a room (should that be bookstore?) full of fans, friends and well-wishers.

The evening’s proceedings were based on thematic perspectives from Mani Ratnam’s movies – those of subtlety in the projection of relationships, sensitivity to current issues, the picturisation of songs and the choice of cast & crew. Each perspective was introduced with appropriate clippings from his movies, followed by relevant questions from Navin to Mr. Ratnam.

Some sound bytes from the man himself:

“For the first schedule of my first film, I had put together flow charts, budgets and cashflows for the project. At the end of the week, I tore it all up.”

“While ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’ and ‘Dil Se’ were about issues that are very personal to us, ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ had to have an outsider’s perspective. Hence, the Lankan situation worked better as a backdrop to the main story of the little girl.”

“I am very much a commercial film-maker. While I have been trying to move towards making movies without songs, if you take away songs, my movies just won’t be the same. Songs play many roles – they depict emotion, reach a peak or simply, give a pause in the story. However, if the script is worked well, one can make movies without songs. ‘Kurudhip Punal’ is one such example.”

“Both Ilayaraja and A.R.Rahman are brilliant composers, and I’m lucky to have worked with both of them. They are opposites in terms of style and the way they operate, notwithstanding the fact that one works in the day and the other works at night!”

“An actor is the most important person – he/she takes the character, hitherto envisaged on paper, forward, adding that little extra in the process.”

“Giving a title for a film, is like naming a child. It stays through the process of the development of the script, sometimes, even defining the look of the film.”

“Converting a novel to a screenplay is as difficult as, if not more difficult than writing a fresh script. As film writing is not taken seriously, there is a dearth of writers who can do this in the industry.”

“I depend a lot on my cinematographers. The relationship between a director and a cinematographer, is like a marriage.”

It was the audience’s turn to ask the questions, and they ranged from ‘Are you a communist?’ to ‘When is your next movie with Kamal Hassan?’ to ‘When do you incorporate songs – during or after writing the script?’ to ‘Will you make a songless film?’.

Actors Surya, Madhavan, Cinematographer/Filmmaker P.C. Sriram, and Keerthana of ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ fame, all turned up to say a few words about the experience of working in a ‘Mani Ratnam Film’.

Surya: “The heroes in a Mani Ratnam film are always shown as intelligent. I’ve always been an average student right though school and college, and I’m glad I was depicted as one of his intelligent heroes. In fact, for the scene in Aydha Ezhuthu, where I’m supposed to take a class for my classmates in a jail cell, I had to mug up the equations for half a day!”

Madhavan: “I got a message on my answering machine when I was told to come for a screen test for ‘Alaipayudhe’. I still have that message and will play it to my grandkids!”

P.C. Shriram: “Working in Mani’s films, one can go berserk. We both push ourselves to see the unknown film after film, and are yet to see it. He’s open to trying new things, and he’ll get the best out of you.”

Keerthana : “I was given the script for ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ in the beginning itself, but I didn’t go through it in detail, as I wanted it to be a surprise before every shot. In fact, till I saw the movie, I didn’t know what it was about!”

The films released on DVD were those directed by Mani Ratnam, as well as some produced by him. They were, ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, ‘Thiruda Thiruda’, ‘Iruvar’, ‘Uyire’, ‘Alaipayudhey’, ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’, ‘Aasai’, ‘Nerukku Ner’, ‘Dum Dum Dum’ and ‘5 Star’.

DID YOU KNOW?
· The first ever film directed by Mani Ratnam was ‘Pallavi Anupallavi’ (1983). The film was made in Kannada and starred Anil Kapoor.
· Mani Ratnam’s second film, ‘Unuru’ was in Malayalam.
· The first Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam, was ‘Pagal Nilavu’.
· The first Mani Ratnam movie that actor Madhavan auditioned for, was ‘Iruvar’.
· Mani Ratnam narrated the theme of ‘Roja’ to his wife, Suhasini, on a flight and asked if she’d make it. She asked him to make it himself.
· In ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’, the sequence with a suicide bomber that takes place in a park, near the venue in Sri Lanka where Madhavan’s character is giving a speech, was actually shot in Pondicherry

· The song ‘Chandralekha…’ from the movie, ‘Thiruda Thiruda’ was shot at the Art Gallery in the Government Museum Complex in Egmore.

(edited version published on March 3, 2005 in Madras Plus, the city features supplement of The Economic Times, Chennai)

Tarrega to Thyagaraja - Nacho Corral & Belen Cantos

Flamenco is the common platform for Nacho Corral, a guitarist and Belen Cantos, a vocalist, who were in Chennai recently to perform at the Alliance Française de Chennai as the band, Beuroshna.

The other common factor is that both study music at the Swati Tirunal College in Trivandrum. Nacho, is learning the Veena while researching the ‘Sopanam’ style, native to Kerala. Belen is learning Carnatic Vocal formally under a Guru. Both find the ‘Gamakas’ a challenge.

“Initially, I had trouble learning the vocal technique in Carnatic Music, as my breath control was different. But with time, it has adapted, and now, I find that even Flamenco singing has become easier.”says Belen.

Nacho recounts the beginnings of his interest in music. “I suppose music was all around me. My father loves to listen to music. My brothers had a band of their own. It was a natural transition for me to become a musician too.” Belen’s mother, a gifted vocalist, has been an inspiration for her.

Their music, far from being given the generic epithet of ‘fusion’, is a combination of Indian ragas with Spanish lyrics and Flamenco talas (Belen’s coinage!). More interestingly, the Flamenco beats are played on a Mridangam, an instrument that has enthralled the two ever since they heard it being played.

Both recall a particularly amusing incident, when they were ‘advised’ to perform in as many places as possible, to gain exposure. Belen says, “We represented University of Kerala, at an inter-collegiate festival just outside Chennai. The funniest part was that our Professor, visiting Chennai at that time, thought we were playing at the December Music Season!”

Nacho adds, “He actually tracked us down, and saw us perform ‘80s hits at this college complete with guitar string snapping on stage. We went on to win 2^nd place! He then whisked us away to his hotel, to stay the night more comfortably, before we headed back to Trivandrum the next day.”

“One experience that helped acclimatise us to India rapidly, was in an unreserved compartment on a train journey from Trivandrum to Chennai. There was a sea of people in the compartment, and we could hardly move. At 2 a.m., at Madurai station, we were quite shocked to see what looked like a group of mustachioed men in sarees! We then figured out, that they were transvestites.”

Nacho and Belen have come a long way, not only in terms of the physical distance traversed from Spain to India, but also in the learning and unlearning that they have done, in their quest to raise the bar on their skills. Here’s wishing them all the best in their musical careers!

Pic courtesy Seven Shots, as published in Madras Plus