Deepa Mehta about Water

Indiafm has published a nice interview of Deepa Mehta. Here is an excerpt:

You've made the widows' ashram look incredibly squalid. Didn't you think would put audiences off?

Not at all! While making the film I wasn't thinking of the audience at all. I said what I had to. It's been such an incredible experience of growth for me. You do something that you believe in. But you've no control over how the world would react to what you do. But the way people have responded to Water….With Fire it was mostly women who felt strongly. With Earth it was neither. But this time I've seen both women and men responding emotionally.

Where did the idea for a film on the abandoned widows come from?

Eleven years ago I first went to Varanasi to shoot Young Indiana Jones. That's where I first met an abandoned widow. I followed her to an ashram. It was a bit of shock. We all know about widows. But the whole ashram syndrome struck me as being utterly poignant. The visuals stayed with me. When I decided to do an elemental trilogy I knew Water would be about these women who lived and died by water….Water is the ultimate equalizer. Either it gives or destroys life.

Read the full interview:

"With Fire it was mostly women who felt strongly. With Earth it was neither. But with Water I've seen both women and men responding emotionally" - Deepa Mehta