A Life in Pictures: Deepa Mehta

27 July 09

Indian-born director Deepa Mehta discusses her approach to filmmaking and the controversy surrounding her Elements trilogy.

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Watch writer and director Deepa Mehta talk about her controversial and groundbreaking career at a BAFTA: A Life in Pictures event.

Interviewed by Daniel Graham from Artificial Eye, Mehta discusses her unique approach to making films and the controversy surrounding her “elements” trilogy Fire, Earth and Water.

Challenging the balance of men and women in Indian culture the trilogy broke the taboo of putting same sex relationships on screen. In the webcast Mehta describes her feelings of betrayal about the violent protests and death threats surrounding the shoot of Water in her homeland.

She goes on to discuss her methodology with the help of clips from her major works and answers questions from the audience about working as an independent filmmaker.

More about Deepa Mehta…

Deepa Mehta became known as one of India’s most controversial filmmakers with her "elements" trilogy, Fire, Earth and Water.

Fire (1996), about two love-deprived sisters-in-law who find solace in each other, dealt with issues of lesbianism and challenged the imbalance of power between husbands and wives in contemporary India.

Earth (1998), which was nominated for three Gemini awards, is a love story set among the struggles of diverse friends during India's 1947 partition from Pakistan. Based on Bapsi Sidwa's novel Cracking India, it depicts the division of both country and friendships during the bloody massacres in the largest forced migration in the history of mankind.

Mehta's final instalment in the trilogy was Water (2005). Nominated for nine Genie awards and for an Oscar in 2006, the film traces the story of socially marginalized widows who are ostracized in conservative parts of India. The shoot had to relocated to Sri Lanka after a series of violent protesters threatened Mehta's life and destroyed film sets in the holy city of Varanasi, where "widow houses" can still be found.

Between making Earth and Water, Mehta enjoyed popular success in her adopted country of Canada with the musical comedy Bollywood/Hollywood (2002) and filmed an adaptation of Canadian novelist Carol Shields's The Republic of Love (2003). Her first feature film Sam and Me (1991), about an Indian immigrant who befriends an elderly Jewish man in Toronto, won an honourable mention at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mehta’s other works include Camilla (1994), starring Bridget Fonda, a string of television specials, including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) for George Lucas Productions and Heaven on Earth (2008) which premiered at the Tongues on Fire Film Festival. .

Deepa Mehta on IMDB

A Life in Pictures

This Life in Pictures event was held on Saturday 7 March 2009 in association with Tongues on Fire Film Festival .

The Academy's A Life in Pictures strand of events brings you the very best creative talents in the film industry. From esteemed actors and actresses to multiple award-winning directors and producers, A Life in Pictures explores the great talent advancing the artistic development of film.