Bollywood/ Hollywood Director: Deepa Mehta Country: Canada Year: 2002

Deepa Mehta's latest film Bollywood/Hollywood hits Canadian theatres later this month. Mybindi caught up with the acclaimed director just before its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival.

So far I've heard plenty of comparisons between Bollywood/Hollywood, and Pretty Woman. What do you make of that?

It was meant to be that way, so I'm glad that they are making those comparisons. That's the Hollywood part of Bollywood/Hollywood. You take a story-line that is very typical of Hollywood, which is the Cinderella story, you know the poor girl makes well with the rich guy… So you take that story and make it into a Bollywood style film. That was intentional.

Bollywood/Hollywood is set in Toronto. Was this particular city specific to the story-line in any way?

Do you mean that if a film is set in New York it's not transferable anywhere else? No of course not. It's not about where this film is set, whether a film is set in Delhi, Bombay, Toronto or New York…It's not about the city, the story is universal. What's important are the emotions in the film. Is it something you can relate to?

This movie is a departure from the more dramatic, serious films that you've directed in the past. Why did you decide to work on a comedy?

I think that a lot of my films, if you're familiar with my work, have a real element of ironic humour in it. This for me was an opportunity to explore it even further by making it a full- length comedy. And I really enjoyed doing it.

It's got to be different on set shooting a comedy as opposed to a drama…

I think that we just had more fun doing something that's light-hearted. It's natural that if you're doing something serious the mood tends to be serious around the actors, yourself and on the set. When you're doing something that's light-hearted and fun there is a tendency for everything to be far more at ease and relaxed. But the style doesn't change. Timing is timing whether it's a dramatic moment or comedic moment.

What about that racy Sunita Singh character?

She's fabulous. She's not a bad person at all, she's great. She's got attitude, she's got energy, she's got intelligence, she's smart. The world is her oyster. I love Sunita, she's not limited by anything. Her character is fantastic, people that have seen the film have responded well to her. She's fearless. She's not doing anything wrong. She's just an escort, she's not a whore.

But she's still not the type of woman that mothers necessarily want their sons to bring home. Within the South Asian community, the notion of a woman in the 'escort' business may be difficult to swallow…

I think it's really important that we don't pigeon hole our young girls, whether it's you, Sunita or anyone else, with our own preconceptions of what is good and what is bad. Some woman may have 9 to 5 jobs in the bank, but they may not necessarily be good people. They may have secret lives where they do awful things…Why do we limit what people are like just based on their profession?

Why not have the courage to do what you want to do. Whether it's doing an interview with someone, being an escort or being a bank teller… That's what we address in many ways in Bollywood/Hollywood. The character Rahul is the good Indian son, everything for him is about duty, sacrifice and family. Which are all the norms that he goes by. He sacrifices himself (and love) to do things for his sister, his mother, his family. And that is extreme pressure. And look where it gets him. Nowhere. Finally he comes to the realization that to be truly happy, he has to do what he wants to do…

Now that you've got your feet wet in comedy, do you plan to shoot more of them?

I don't know. I'm in the middle of another film right now, and it's a romantic film. It isn't a comedy and neither is it a heavy drama. It's not that, 'okay I'm going to only do serious films', or 'I'm going to do only comedies', it's what moves me, what inspires me in the script. It could be an action adventure tomorrow, but if it's a script that I like then I'll do it. It's what moves you. It's not that you have to stick to a certain genre. Because that's very limiting…

It must be liberating, directing and exposing yourself professionally to more then one genre…

It's liberating and it's fun. It's getting to know yourself… you realize sometimes that you really do have it in you. You take a chance a do something different and it's like, 'this is bizarre…this is not bad' and then you start to smile. I've never felt bound by any of the work I've done before.