Mehta's film offensive to Indians, envoy says

Abu Dhabi: Dilip Mehta's Cooking With Stella, a comedy about domestic workers, is ‘offensive to Indians', said the Indian ambassador to the UAE Talmiz Ahmad, following a screening on Thursday.

Calling the film an audacious attempt, Ahmad added that a Western director would never have got away with such "cultural misrepresentations".

The movie made its Middle Eastern premiere at the third Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF)) and was in the race for the Black Pearl Awards Narrative Feature Competition.

"The movie shows Indians in a poor light and shows them as crooks," Ahmad said on Saturday.

"Before the screening of the movie, the director said it was a social satire. But it does not address any larger issues, nor does it do anything to bridge the cultural divide," says Ahmad.

Cooking With Stella — a tale about a South Indian maid Stella (Seema Biswas) working in a Canadian High Commission household in New Delhi and her petty theft, is directed by Indian-born Canadian director Mehta.

Outdated perception

"If the same movie had been made by a Westerner, all the Indians watching it would have hammered him. With this movie he is pandering to Western stereotypes and their outdated perception of India," he adds.

He also feels Mehta, who is the brother of the celebrated controversial director Deepa Mehta, was trying to gain artistic acceptance by criticising Indian heritage.

"On a harsh note, he is using the film as a passport to acceptance by criticising his own heritage. But having said that, I think the film is way too superficial to demand such in-depth analysis. This is my personal opinion," says Ahmad.

The diplomat is more tolerant towards Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire — which showed the protagonist Jamal [Dev Patel] rising from the slums of India.

"In films like Slumdog Millionaire and City Of Joy, there is an element of fairness and India serves merely as a backdrop," says Ahmad.

When Gulf News contacted Mehta in Delhi, he expressed his disappointment about the comments made by the Indian ambassador.

"Firstly, I find his outburst a bit humorous. At the same time, it makes me feel sad that His Excellency would be so intolerant towards my film. Secondly, it's not a movie about Mahatma Gandhi nor is it Ben Hur. Cooking With Stella is a comedy. Period," says Mehta.

He added diplomats often had the tendency to bestow honours for movies that glorified their own countries.

Great nation

Just because the small boy in Slumdog Millionaire jumped into a cesspool, does it mean that all children from the slums do the same, he asked.

"In the same manner, Stella is one person in a household. I have not claimed that she represents India or that all Indians are crooks. I think India is a great nation."