Culture

Giving Such a Long Journey direction

Jen Swanston Despite their different ways of working, everybody was willing to work and learn from each other. “We kind of developed a hybrid form [of filming],” says Gunnarsson of the way the cast and crew fell into place.

Such a Long Journey— based on Rohinton Mistry’s Governor General Award-winning book of the same name—was shot on location in Bombay. Shooting in India posed some difficulty in several areas. Very few foreign films are shot there

What does a man who was born in Iceland and raised in Canada know about directing a film about Indians in Bombay? Well, if Sturla Gunnarsson’s film Such a Long Journey is any indica- tion, quite a bit. Gunnarsson was part of an interesting mix of people who came together from all over the world to make this film. The cast and crew were drawn from India, Vancouver, Toronto, London and New York.

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Rohinton Mistry (author) and Gunnarsson pause and reflect

because the Indian government is cautious about who and what

India. Nasseerddin Shah, who plays Jimmy, and Om Puri, who

they let be filmed in India. has an essential role, are both Gunnarsson fully understands, huge stars in India. Om would “They're sick and tired of big, go out into the crowd and ask

huge Western media conglomer- ates that are using their misery to sell newspapers.”

Even if you are lucky enough to get your screenplay past the government censors, you still have to get through the three or four different levels of commissions before you can start filming. “And even then that doesn’t guarantee you anything,” Gunnarsson tells me, “that just gets you there. Then you have to deal with any problems on the day.”

them to co-operate with the film crew. “They listened to him. They wouldn't have listened to me,” Gunnarsson jokes, “but they listened to him.”

Another problem is that Bombay is a city of 16 million people and the film capital of the world. Over 300 films are shot in Bombay every year, but unlike in Vancouver, in Bombay the police do not section off roads or control the crowds. They merely wish you good luck.

Despite the number of

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While shooting is taking films that are shot in Bombay, place there is the second a camera appears so a censor, does a crowd. The people are called a curious about what's going on: “government unfortunately there are a lot liaison more of them to be curious in officer,” on Bombay then there are in set at all Vancouver. “It’s one thing when times. In you've got a dozen people on 4" Gunnarsson’s Avenue,” recounts Gunnarsson. case his “It's another thing when you've censor became got six or ten thousand people. an asset and You can't control any of those helped him locations. You have to work with through some them as they are.” of the pitfalls All the problems seem of shooting in trivial when you see the final India. product. No soundstage or

Gumasson decorated street could have ever chose to film hoped to match the sheer in locations number of people and cars that where even are constantly on the streets of many Indian Bombay. Gunnarsson never directors expected to miss all the people would not. so much. “That's the thing There are nobody ever tells you. You're several scenes prepared for the culture shock of in Chor- going there, but I find that the Bazaar, the culture shock of going there thieves’ wasn't nearly as extreme as the market, in the culture shock of coming back.” heart of The next big hurdle will be Bombay. The seeing if Such a Long Journey actors, while _ passes the Indian government's not household censors and can be shown in names in India. While not political, the Canada, are movie does make some serious very well accusations about Prime Minister known in Indira Gandhi. Mrs. Gandhi was

6 February 24 1999 the Other Press

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part of a huge scandal in 1971 when it was discovered that money was funneled from RAW (the Research and Development Wing of India’s Secret Service). If the censors allow Such a Long Journey to be shown in India, the integrity of the censor board will be raised in the eyes of the film industry. Indian films rarely deal with social or political issues, instead these issues are dealt with by the newspapers or in books. Everything that was said or implied in the movie has already been reported in the news.

Turbulent times are just the backdrop to the story, which concerns a man and the chal- lenges he faces as his best friend betrays him, his son leaves home and his daughter falls ill. Unlike many movies set in India which have a Western protagonist and a Western point of view, Such a Long Journey is about Indians from an Indian point of view. However, at its heart, the movie has a universal theme: the stuggle of keeping one’s faith when the cards you have been dealt are not a winning hand.

Overall, the film has a genuine feel and the people seem real. Gunnarsson has made a film that rings true; not just to the people of Bombay, but to people everywhere.