Mehta brings history out

It was a feisty exchange of ideas and opinions as Deepa Mehta fielded questions from media persons. What emerged from it was simple. Historical incidents need to be told and accepted as facts in order to move forward.

"Water is about the misrepresentation of religion for personal and patriarchal gain and about the conflict between science and faith," she said, adding that as an Indian she felt the need to make it and accept historical facts as they were.

"It's not dragging out incidents from the past. For, any culture has its good and bad and it's critical to be accepting of both, to understand why things happened so we can avoid them in the future. Films are not an answer to issues, they are facilitators of dialogue," Mehta said.

"It is a reality," she said of widow ashrams, "even today in 2005. They exist. I know of 43 in Varanasi and 13 in Vrindavan. I was surprised to find one ashram run by a government that had no young widows and when I asked them, the person in charge told me that they refused to take in widows under 30 as they were vulnerable to prostitution. It is a fact of life and we should not be ashamed to address it."

Lavish praise

On her cast, she was particularly generous in praising the youngest and oldest members.

"We overcame the language barrier with the little girl, Sarla, because she was such a natural. And as for the others, they were extremely hard working and dedicated to the film," she said of her cast, who are more famous for their glamourous performances in mainstream Bollywood productions.

"And the oldest member, Manorama, is a fantastic lady from the South. She now works in TV, but was felicitated in Kerala's festival and was so touched that the industry hadn't forgotten her," she said.

The director is currently in the process of working on the script of her eighth film called Exclusion that focuses on a real life incident about a group of Indian dissidents that sought refuge in Canada.

"They were denied entry and had to return to India, where some of them were shot and killed upon arrival," she said of the 1914 incident.

"It's a disturbing bit of Canadian history, but again, we need to accept it within the context of racial differences."

Despite changing cast and re-shooting the last of her elemental trilogy, Mehta's Water, which was finally filmed in Sri Lanka, was appreciated by people at DIFF for its performances and her commitment to going ahead with the project despite fundamental Hindu opposition.

When asked about whether it would ready in time for next year's festival, Mehta laughed and said it was "highly improbable, as we start filming only in September".