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Subject: Oscar Winner Makes Movie Magic With Naipaul's Novel (fw)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 19:02:08 +1100
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http://www.malaysiakini.com/News/2001/12/2001121506.php3
Saturday December 15
Oscar winner makes movie magic with Naipaul's novel
Sujoy Dhar
11:23am, Sat: (IPS) - What happens when an Indian
Oscar-wining filmmaker adapts
on celluloid a novel by a controversial Indian Nobel
laureate on the immigrant of
Indian community in Trinidad of the 30s?
The outcome is sheer movie magic - a feast for the
eyes and minds of cinema
enthusiasts across the world, a toast in the
international film festival circuit and even a
cue for many to peep into the history of the
Caribbean islands.
India-born, New York-based producer-director Ismail
Merchant now basks in the rave
response to his screen adaptation of The Mystic
Masseur, one of the best known novels
of this year's Nobel literature winner V S Naipaul
and based on the Indian diaspora in
Trinidad.
''We were apprehensive about obtaining the rights to
the novel from Sir Vidia . But I
think because of our reputation he entrusted us with
the novel,'' said Ismail, the
Oscar-winning director-producer of the famous
Merchant Ivory Production.
The film brings alive the saga of Indian indentured
labour that arrived in the
Caribbean to work on the sugar plantations in the
second half of the 19th century, after
slavery had been abolished in the British Empire.
Mystic Masseur
The Mystic Masseur is a rare insight into the warmth
and humour of these characters'
lives as the Indian community in Trinidad began to
grow and prosper.
The film, at times hilarious, is the story of the
rise and fall and the final acceptance of
life of the protagonist Ganesh Ransumair (played by
Asif Mandavi), a schoolteacher
with the outsized ambition of becoming an author and
later a politician in Port of
Spain.
Ismail recalled wooing the London-based Sir Vidia
before he finally obtained the
filming rights. ''I went on location-hunting to
Trinidad and returned to London with
photographs of Sir Vidia's home, possible location,
and the Indian community there.
Then I invited him and his wife Nadira to dinner at
my London flat.''
''I cooked mackerel for him. I had brought chili
sauce from Trinidad. I put in a little
tamarind. And then my daal (pulses) with nimbu
(lemon). But Nadira came into the
kitchen and told me that Naipaul hated mackerel.
Well, it was too late, and I took the
platter in. Naipaul tasted it, looked at me and said
it was splendid,'' said a beaming
Merchant, whose culinary skills are formidable.
''Making this film was one of the most pleasant of
experiences,'' said Merchant. ''It was
as if the whole island had turned up and the spirit
of Naipaul was everywhere. There
are great actors there in Trinidad and they were
willing to contribute more than the
script asked of them.''
Said screenplay writer Caryl Phillips, ''When I read
the book for the second time, I was
convinced that it was a book which not only could be
filmed, but was one that was rich
in character, in comedy, and full of pathos".
''The early novels of V S Naipul, including this
novel, had always held a special appeal
for me as they seemed to depict a Trinidad that the
author had some affection for. I felt
it would be a challenge to adapt this novel for the
screen,'' Caryl said.
''Caribbean life has been under-represented in the
cinema, and the islands have often
been used as little more than an exotic backdrop for
stories of people whose lives are
not invested in the region. Ismail Merchant appeared
to be ready to address this
problem,'' he said.
''As a writer, working on Mystic Masseur was a
privilege. A wonderful novel, a
beautiful island with an enthusiastic and supportive
populace, and a film company
prepared to woo me, not with false promises, but
with the assurance that they would
include me in key decisions along the way,'' he
added.
Enchanting piece of work
Says internationally famed Indian actor Om Puri, who
played an important role in the
film: ''Working with Merchant was a great pleasure.
I worked on my accent a lot to
make it perfect.''
The film has received praise in the United States.
Cinema doyen Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "With great cast,
performances, beautiful cinematography
and an excellent music score, the richly-layered
Masseur is an enchanting piece of
work."
But Ismail Merchant's celluloid courtship with Nobel
laureates seems to have only just
begun.
''I am going to capture on celluloid the
intellectual bonding of two of the greatest
litterateurs of the last century - Bengali literary
giant Rabindranath Tagore and French
author, savant and philosopher Romain Rolland,''
said Merchant.
''We have started research on this project.
Catherine Berge, who directed Merchant
Ivory production Gaach three years back and Caryl
Philips, screenplay writer of The
Mystic Masseur are currently working on it,'' said
the maker of memorable screen
versions as Howard's End and A Room With A View.
Next venture
However, Merchant's next venture is a project based
on a novel by Diane Johnson. ''Our
next film is Diane's La Divorce,'' says the maker of
some 46 feature films who has just
completed shooting of Merci Docteorey based on their
original screenplay and set in
Paris.
Ismail, who on Nov 19 was conferred the New York
State Governor's Arts Award at
Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Big Apple, marked
his fortieth anniversary in film
career in April this year with the release of The
Golden Bowl.
Merchant is also toying with the idea of filming the
recent works of such noted Indian
authors as Shashi Tharoor (The Riot) and Amitava
Ghosh (The Glass Palace).
