Profile: Mridu Chandra
BY AMREEN OMAR

Mridu Chandra is a New York-based filmmaker and writer who has exhibited internationally at festivals and museums including the Kennedy Center, the Helsinki Foundation, and the World Social Forum 2004 in India. She recently completed a teaching residency at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, where she established Pakistan's first university level film and video program.

For the past eight years, Mridu Chandra has been producing both documentaries and narrative films. Four of her films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and one of her documentaries was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to screen in their 2004 Contemporary Documentary Series. In addition to producing Let the Church Say, Amen (a documentary about faith and self-empowerment in Washington DC), she co-produced the award-winning documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (about late civil rights and peace activist Bayard Rustin). Narrative projects include the romantic comedy Love Ludlow starring David Eigenberg, Brendon Sexton III, and Alicia Goranson and Punching at the Sun, a South Asian teen coming of age story set in the politically charged aftermath of 9/11. The Goodbye Man marks her directorial debut in the narrative realm.

The Goodbye Man is a simple tale of loneliness and alienation, illustrating the unique perspective of a young Pakistani office worker, Imran, caught in a soul crushing, dead end job at one of the many international service centers that have emerged in South Asia in the last decade. Having reached the end of his rope, Imran makes the drastic but seemingly logical decision to take control of his life once and for all-by ending it. Unfortunately for Imran, he discovers that he is no more equipped at ending his life than he is at living it. Employing both slapstick humor and sly political commentary, The Goodbye Man is as an offbeat rebel's song in the face of the over-powering symphony of progress and modernity.

This film was made while the filmmaker was at a teaching residency at Pakistan's very first film school, Beaconhouse National University in the city of Lahore. As such, it is collaborated on and crewed entirely by Film and Video Production students at BNU. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mridu Chandra, following the screening of her short film, The Goodbye Man, at the ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto this spring.

ON HOW THE IDEA FOR A FILM EMERGED FROM HER CLASSROOM

I went to Lahore to teach a class in video production - lighting, sound, editing. I started out teaching documentary filmmaking, but there was much more interest from the class in narrative. Though I had more experience in producing and critical thinking, my teaching experience enabled me to free myself creatively.

I wanted to have a final project that would bring the class together as cast and crew. I started a scriptwriting competition in Lahore - open only to students, high school and university. We received sixty entries after advertising with posters in places such as cafés. There is a lot of appreciation for writing in Lahore, and a general appreciation for poetry, especially Urdu. I received some scripts in Urdu and some in English. Overall, I was very impressed with the caliber of the scripts. I was very interested in the content of the scripts that were being submitted…contemporary topics that portray Pakistan in a way that we don't think of. The media and film industry are exploding right now in Pakistan, and I felt privileged to be part of this explosion of new talent.

ON HOW THE FILM WAS MADE

No one outside the class was hired for the film. The whole class took on the various responsibilities - it was decided early that they would do everything themselves, including the animation, casting, catering and artwork. Many of the students were multi-tasking. The fact that my visa was going to expire gave us a deadline, and everything came together. The film is a showcase piece for all of us.

The cast consisted of students from our class and a few from outside. The actor who played Imran was not from our class, but a business student. The man who played the carpet seller is a well-know university character - he's one of the administrators. He rides a motorcycle to and from school, and is this high-energy older person (a former military officer) who loves to be around young people.

ON TEACHING

Teaching in Lahore was a great experience for me and my students. Initially, I was mysterious to them - an American, an Indian, sort-of, a woman alone in Pakistan. I was able to break down a lot of stereotypes.

It was exciting to have my first teaching experience in Pakistan. In New York, there are so many people teaching film. Teaching helped me articulate what I know. I haven't been to film school - my work in film draws from my background. Being a teacher gave me a lot of confidence - any teacher is a mentor. My varied experiences came together through teaching. It was a turning point for me as an artist.

I've worked on a number of films, assisting other filmmakers. Teaching in Lahore marked an end to that phase. I want to make my own films now. I feel like I've learned a lot from the filmmakers I've worked with.

ON THE CURRENT MEDIA EXPLOSION IN PAKISTAN

Things are exciting right now. Independent cinema is being encouraged by new film festivals including the KARA film festival, which was started by a group of independent filmmakers in Pakistan. Another one is the Karachi Film Festival, which profiled India this past December.

After Partition, much of the film talent in Lahore moved to Bombay. There's a place in the old city of Lahore called Lakshmi Chowk, and it used to be the base for the Indian film industry; it housed offices for very famous producers. Lahore was the center of all that. Things changed…too many rules, and Pakistani cinema became mostly B films. That's all changing now.

ON MENTORSHIP

When I was younger, there were no South Asian filmmakers to look up to. Now that's different. In London, New York, Toronto, there are a lot of South Asian artists. A contemporary South Asian youth interested in the arts has a large community to turn to.

ON WHAT'S NEXT

Since coming back from Pakistan, I'm in development on a few new projects. One is an experimental documentary (half documentary, half animation) about my grandfather as a composite of 100 years of history, and I'm working with two other directors on developing their narrative features, looking for investors at this stage.

For more information about The Goodbye Man and upcoming films by Mridu Chandra, please contact mriduchandra@earthlink.net.