Young Indian talent should not languish: Majid Majidi

 Iranian film-maker MAJID MAJIDI has been the toast of the town at IFFI, what with his acclaimed film Beyond the Clouds inaugurating the festival to a jam-packed and appreciative audience. Meenakshi Rao caught up with him on the sidelines of the Goa show

Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi doesn’t know any Indian language but his first film about this country speaks volumes about the nation’s ethos, its daily tumult, underbelly, struggles and  negativity but, delightfully accompanied by its uniquely Indian consorts — hope and positivity.

Beyond the Cloudsis Majidi’s first Indian film, emanating from Mumbai, and it has created waves with its subtle journey through a brother-sister relationship immersed in crises of all kinds yet floating in a strange boat of hope and togetherness.

“It is the story of a brother and sister in a very difficult situation and how the two realise the importance of the family and togetherness in such a complex situation. Strangely, the brother learns the importance of having a family through the family of his biggest enemy. It gives him hope and positivity and that is what the film is all about,” Majidi explained on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India underway in Goa.

For a filmmaker hailing from the globally isolated Iran, which has seen revolutions, sanctions and cultural convulsions, Majidi is pretty eloquent and outspoken about his cinema. “I am an artist and my passion is story-telling,” he said, adding that Bollywood was quite another genre and he was more about propelling social and cultural issues through his kind of parallel cinema. “Bollywood does what it does. I do what I do,” he clarified.

Majidi is also passionate about and bowled over by India’s budding talent. “I am amazed at the level of young talent in India and also sorry that it is such a struggle for them to showcase themselves. I have always gone for fresh faces because I choose my heroes from common people as that’s where my stories exist — among the masses and their lives,” he added.

“India’s film industry should ensure that the country’s young talent is not stifled. In India, cinema is like an industry with youngsters seldom having a chance for innovation. In India, you have brilliant talent but not many chances. We should create a situation for the young actors to express themselves and change cinema.”

Talking to Majidi is somewhat tedious as it involves a translator which takes away a lot of time at a place brimming with so many other greats from the world of cinema. But Majidi gives such a becoming worldview of relationships that you get rather engaged in his characters and the subtlety with which he fleshes them out into plausible beings.

In fact, he surprises you all through his film with the nuances he fields through his main and side protagonists. Be it the assistant warden at the jail, who rises from the straitjacket of insensitivity and corruption to return a bribe from an inmate on human grounds, or Amir, the boy, who almost sells an innocent girl into flesh trade to get money to bail out his sister but stops short, or Tara the sister who lives her emotions through the rough and tumble of life, learning to care and nurture an orphan amidst her ordeal in jail, you renew your faith in life.

Majidi feels Iran and India have similar concerns. “There are many cultural similarities between Iran and India and I was looking for a chance to make a film here in India. It fortunately happened. The film was premiered at the London Film Festival but for me the real premiere is here,” he said.

He also loves working with music maestro A R Rahman but with some reservations. He may love his scores but Rahman’s working hours are not music to his ears. “Only problem is that Rahman works from night till morning and I from morning to night. So, it was the biggest challenge with Rahman. Just when I was about sleep, Rahman would call and ask me to come over to listen to a score,” Majidi said laughing. Seriously though, the film-maker acknowledged that “one of the good points about Rahman is that he is very flexible. Sometimes it happens, for example, that he sits together, he has done some scores and I said, ‘No, I do not like them. We should do something new’. It’s a very good feeling when someone can listen to criticism and can accept it.” Majidi, it seems, has not had enough of India and might just be on to another project.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 23 November, 2017