In Conversation : Anwar Jamal

Tushar   | Movies | June 12, 2007 at 1:29 pm         Print

Anwar Jamal loves to talk, and when you listen to him, you listen in awe. Literary references combine with philosophical insights coated with Anwar Bhai’s polished baritone, and you are transported to a world of stories. And the same effortless storytelling effervescence flows in his film, Swaraj too.

Swaraj, a highly acclaimed film, has been screened in 45 international festivals, has bagged the National Award for Best Film on Social Issues(2003). The screenplay is by Anwar’s wife Sehjo Singh, who is also the executive producer of the film.
Anwar Bhai is also the man behind Film Trust India, a non-profit organization promoted by a group of filmmakers and critics to share the incredible richness of Indian and South Asian cinema with film lovers across the world.

FTI, which apart from Anwar Jamal & Sehjo Singh, has film critics like Utpal Borpujari & Saibal Chatterjee, and film programmer Therese Hayes as its promoters, plans to host similar experiences of South Asian cinemas in Lahore in Pakistan by 2007-end and Dhaka in Bangladesh in early 2008, apart from other places in the Subcontinent with local collaborators.

I had a chance to meet up Anwar Bhai during his recent visit to Voices of the Waters, a film festival on films surrounding water as a central theme. This was my first formal interaction with a film maker of his stature. I look back at it as something more than an interview; it was a window into the industry, albeit from the eyes of someone who has absorbed the industry and the film making process over the years.

Me: I loved the film, it startled and surprised me. I wonder how such an influential film never came in the public eye.
AJ: The film had a multiplex release; it has been to over 40 countries through screenings. So it’s actually not an unheard of film. I feel the film, with the kind of work and thought gone into it, has finally got its due.

Me: So tell me more about the film, how was it conceived?
AJ: The basic theme of Swaraj is drawn from the real life story of a woman named Leelavati who was a ward Panch in Madurai. She wanted to get water for her ward and she even succeeded. But soon after, she has hacked to pieces in the marketplace by vested interests.

I am all for working on an original idea. An idea is your reflection of the present with metaphors and influences used to portray the things you feel are significant to the narration.

We adapted the film to a Rajasthani milieu, and called it Swaraj, the little republic, as each small village in that community is called.
We also included the caste angle, so prevalent in the world disconnected from our urban realities. I wanted to bring this disparity in the fore- the bitter reality of exploitation in our villages, in scarcity of basic needs like Water.
I took the theme of four women, working together, struggling together. I wanted to portray their solidarity amidst the troubles times and a systemically sick society.
How they relate to each other, the issues around them forms the story.

Me: I noticed many distinctive elements in the film, like the use of Indian Ocean’s music, a non-star cast…
AJ: Indian Ocean absorbed the coming together of the plot against my imagery of sufi philosophy and Kabir’s poetry, and brilliantly composed a score, which was a challenge to realize/portray on screen. If you notice the beginning of Jhini, we had to shoot and re-shoot to synchronize the visuals with the sound, as the song symbolizes liberation, and release from the shackles of convention.

Me: Yes, I loved the whole buildup imagery created in the song. I even heard a stanza in the film which I didn’t find in the album.
AJ: The music was composed for the film, the album, which came later, bears the film credentials.

Me: Why didn’t you release it as an OST then? It can be a great compilation of India Ocean’s songs and folk tunes, used with great precision in the film.
AJ: Yes, we should do that probably.

Me: Coming to the cast…
AJ: The cast was handpicked from NSD. We gave them colloquial names, as they were not ‘stars’. I wanted to make them look real, not ‘heroic’. In a Swades, you would see probably see only Shah Rukh Khan taking his shirt off and jumping into the water tank to clear the blockage, but real life is different. Sometimes ‘heroic’ deeds are done by ‘heroes’ we never have heard of.

Me: I also noticed there was no attempt to conclude the story in a cinematic/climactic convention i.e. you do not leave the film on a very positive note.
AJ: like I said, I went with the script. I normally do that. I pick up a story or a concept and weave characters around it to create a fictional/dramatic touch, make the characters look and sound real, I love to use the actor’s natural ‘activity’ to cover the emotion in one single shot, choose an amiable setting, and later ‘layer’ the story. My films have ‘layers’, they might look complex because I do not believe in following a linear pattern of shot-composition, neither dialogue nor song and dance routines. I mean I find it ridiculous how can someone start dancing in the midst of all the suffering? Regarding the climax, it was as per the script, all stories do not essentially end on a high note.

Me: I was reminded of Mirch Masala which leaves a different taste at the end, of victory over evil.
AJ: Yes, that is fine if it goes the story, but it just didn’t happen in this plot.

Me: Tell me more about how tough was it shooting the film in deserts.
AJ: I have done 9 projects in Rajasthan. And it has been a world of experiences and memories. We shot Swaraaj in 40 days flat, add a couple of months to that for traveling, a couple more for post-production and you have the film ready. I had some of the best technicians in the industry working for me fortunately. Editor Sreekar Prasad, a Manirathnam regular, added a whole new dimension to the pacing, he and cinematographer, S Chokalingam brought in a workable element in the narrative.
Shooting in deserts is tumultuous, you cant put a trolley because you cant put tracks on the slippery sand, the dunes keep moving all the time, and then you have storms.
We shot the film in sync sound, in those days. We shot almost every sequence twice, as we had to convert Super 16 to a 35 mm Film format. We used blue celophane sheets against natural lights to create the ambience of cold nights in the desert.

Me: I couldn’t help notice the parallel drawn with Sufism..
AJ: Yes, we have used a devotee character who says the timeless lines about Karbala, the battlefield where an army perished without water. This track adds the philosophically heroic elements of sacrifice, redemption and selfless love of humanity to the narrative.

Me: The dialect was very simple. Any reasons for that?
AJ: I didn’t want to confuse the viewer with chaste dialect. We worked 15 days with the local translator to get the language right.

Me: Any particular reason to choose NSD actors?
AJ: I couldn’t afford actresses from Mumbai with my limited budget, nor would they be able to give me bulk dates for a start-to-finish shoot. Also, I found that these NSD artistes are very disciplined and committed. If I were to make a film now, I might need to convince a producer, then I would need to take ‘stars’ and wait for their common dates to overlap till eternity. It’s damaging to the very honesty that the story and the idea stems out of.

Me: Where do you see Swaraj going from here now?
AJ: Oh, Swaraaj has covered a long journey. It gives immense pleasure to hear about it from the audience abroad.Variety called it ‘finally something fresh from India”.
I plan to take it to all the different languages and to release it through television channels.

(I still have to think and decide if I liked Anwar Bhai, the storyteller or Anwar Jamaal, the film maker better. I would probably need to watch the film again to absorb all the elements after the descriptive and detailed insights given by him. )

Me: Tell me something about your future projects.
AJ: I am working on Dudhnath Singh’s novel, The Survivor, whose story revolves around how father and son and women-traffickers try unsuccessfully to sell the daughter-in-law, and how market terms dictate terms. Manisha Koirala is playing the protagonist.

Me: How has the experience in this film festival been?
AJ: Oh, it has been great. I loved the heartening response here. I would like to cite a particular incident. After the screening, a middle-aged lady walks up to me, and says, “I loved your film, and would love to contribute in your art”. When I asked how will you contribute, she says, “ummm…probably…fifty thousand. That’s all I have!”