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Ash, Aamir to star in The Rising
Director Ketan Mehta on the film's various aspects, to be distributed by UK-based Capitol Films, in an interview with UK Bureau.
It's official. After a signing in Cannes, Aishwarya Rai, Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee are to star in The Rising directed by Ketan Mehta and produced by Bobby Bedi.
The script written by Farrukh Dhondy, is the story of Mangal Pandey and the first war of Indian Independence of 1857. Mehta has cannily snapped up some of the best names in the business: Music by AR Rahman and Nitin Desai as production designer. Capitol Films will distribute the film worldwide, and the British Film Council is likely to participate in the project.
A film both in Hindi and English, the shooting starts in August, and its release is timed with Independence Day next year. Mehta was in London last week scouting for a large British cast (Toby Stephens, the Bond villain of Die Another Day is already on board). A graduate of the Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, Mehta has worked on documentaries and television programmes prior to feature films such as Bhavni Bhavai, Holi, Mirch Masala in the 'eighties. Maya Memsaab, Sardar and Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India followed.
Relaxing in his London hotel after work, Mehta talked about the film that is finally getting off the ground. He is glad it's all happening now, adding that the script has grown substantially, and that there has since been a 'greater curiosity in the West' for such projects. As for the meticulous research, it began as early as 1988 in the India Office Library, the British War Museum, the British Museum and archives in Kolkota and Delhi. Mehta calls his approach a 'dramatisation of historical events', adding that certain liberties will naturally be taken.
Applauding Aamir Khan's dedication, he calls him (along with Amitabh Bachchan) the only actor who had the commitment and intelligence to essay the nuances which the role demands. Calmly fielding questions on the trivia already surfacing on the film (e.g. will Aamir Khan sport a new look, is Aishwarya Rai insistent she should play the female lead), Mehta withholds comment on the astronomical salary purportedly being paid to Aamir Khan. 'Aishwarya Rai is doing a pivotal role, and Rani Mukherjee is doing an exciting cameo. It's not a typical hierarchy - the actors are all very excited,' he says with a sanguine air.
Exploring the facets of freedom and the human struggle for it is a subject close to Mehta's heart. He elaborates: 'What is fascinating about this period is that a company ruled the destiny of one-fifth of humanity. Somewhere, freedom became the ruling principle for those who were subjugated.'
Moving on to the subject of Indian cinema, Mehta is of the view that audiences 'have grown faster than the filmmakers', and that a 'new horizon is emerging' where both 'intelligence and quality' will matter. He declares: 'It's time we got out of the frog in the well syndrome and looked at the world. The audience is now in the driver's seat.' Rejecting the recent coining of the words 'crossover film', Mehta questions the need for a 'label' at all. 'Indian cinema is too self-assured for that,' he says.
Mehta deflects talk of other plans, and as for the suggestion he might have wanted to be something else, he is incredulous: 'Film making? It's not a way of earning my living. It's a way of life.' After the coffee cup has been drained and his cigarette smoke swirls into the air, Mehta concludes reflectively: 'It's time for reinvention, and in order to reinvent, one must know one's history, what went before.'
The Rising is Mehta's contribution to the re-opening of the history books, to the polemic and the pestle, the whey of words and ideas churning Indian post-colonial contexts.
