MR
&
MRS
IYER:
Aparna
Sen's
Latest,
a
Probe
into
Human
Psyche
KOLKOTA:
Aparna
Sen,
the
director
who
hit
world
headlines
with
her
disturbing
yet
true
portrayal
of
an
old
woman's
life
in
the
critically
acclaimed
'36,
Chowrangi
Lane'
two
decades
ago,
has
her
second
English
release,
'Mr
and
Mrs
Iyer',
set
in
the
backdrop
of
the
communal
riots
that
hit
India
after
a
16th
century
mosque
in
Ayodhya
was
demolished
by
Hindu
zealots.
It
is
a
finely
woven
love
story
between
a
Hindu
married
woman
and
her
Muslim
companion.
But,
as
Sen
says,
what
makes
her
film
different
is
not
just
its
strong
inter-religious
overtones
but
the
striking
insight
into
the
working
of
an
individual
mind
when
caught
in
bizarre
circumstances.
In
the
film,
she
questions
the
trend
of
reducing
a
human
to
his
one
basic
identity:
"Religion."
Ironically,
it
was
during
the
making
of
this
film
that
religious
riots
broke
out
in
Gujarat
in
which
over
1,000
people,
mostly
Muslims,
were
killed.
For
Sen
as
well
as
her
unit,
Gujarat
was
a
grim
reminder
of
the
harsh
reality
which
they
were
dealing
with
and,
in
fact,
made
them
sit
up
and
question
the
basics
of
their
film.
I
had
known
and
read
about
the
Bombay
riots
but
nothing
had
prepared
us
for
Gujarat.
"We
got
a
shock
during
the
last
lapse
of
our
shooting,
that
was
when
the
riots
broke
out.
It
almost
seemed
that
we
had
precipitated
it
and
we
felt
terrible,"
said
Sen,
who
was
honoured
with
a
retrospective
at
the
Kolkata
Film
Festival
last
month.
The
film
begins
with
a
curfew
situation
in
rural
Bengal,
where
Meenakshi
Iyer,
a
Hindu
woman,
saves
her
Muslim
companion
from
blood-thirsty
Hindu
zealots
by
referring
to
him
as
her
husband.
Though
the
inspiration
was
macabre,
Sen
has
clearly
struck
a
chord:
the
movie
won
a
Junior
Jury
prize
for
best
director
at
the
Locarno
International
Film
Festival
in
Switzerland
and
the
script
earned
her
a
Netpac
Jury
prize
for
"courage
in
raising
an
issue
of
relevance
in
a
work
of
cinematic
density."
Apparently
the
film
seems
on
similar
lines
with
Maniratnam's
'Bombay'
which
was
again
a
love
story
set
in
the
backdrop
of
communal
violence.
To
this
Aparna
Sen
justifies
that
her
film,
Mr
and
Mrs
Iyer,
is
not
a
mainstream
Bollywood
film,
it's
a
simple
tale
of
two
people
thrown
in
unforeseen
circumstances.
She
brushes
away
the
thought
of
making
commercial
cinema
clarifying
what
cinema
means
to
her.
Mr
and
Mrs
Iyer
is
about
how
relationships
grow
and
are
nurtured
when
people
are
forced
to
be
together
on
a
journey.
The
film
deals
with
characters
from
diverse
backgrounds.
While
Raja
Choudhary
(Rahul
Bose)
is
a
Bengali,
Meenakshi
Iyer
(Konkona
Sen)
is
a
Tamilian
Brahmin.
Konkona
expressed
that
the
experience
of
being
directed
by
one's
own
mother
is
no
different
especially
after
the
film,
'Titli',
in
which
both
Konkona
and
Aparna
had
performed
their
real
life
roles
of
daughter
and
mother
on
screen.
Actor
Rahul
Bose
who
plays
the
role
of
a
wildlife
photographer
in
the
film,
Mr
and
Mrs
Iyer,
has
been
acting
in
several
off-beat
'Hinglish'
films
like
English
August.
He
has
strong
opinions
with
regard
to
the
recent
developments
in
Indian
cinema
where
'Hinglish'
films
are
being
appreciated.
Making
a
point
on
the
'cross-over'
films,
Rahul
said
that
only
Everybody
Says
I'm
Fime
after
Lagaan
has
been
a
'cross-over'
film.
The
distributors
seem
to
be
keen
on
such
low-budget
films
with
a
good
subject
sense
since
they
feel
it
is
easier
to
recover
money
than
other
big-budget
films
which
are
consistently
falling
at
the
box-office.
After
Hindi,
English
is
increasingly
becoming
the
medium
of
communication
for
people
all
over
India.
And
with
that
'Hinglish'
films
at
their
peak
now
are
trying
to
reach
the
urban,
young,
English-speaking
audience
both
in
India
and
abroad.
December
27,
2002
INDIAN
CINEMA
-
WHAT's
NEW?