Photo journalist-turned-director Dilip Mehta talks to tabloid! about his debut film Cooking With Stella
It's a big night for you. What's on your mind?
Right now, my back is killing me. And I can't focus on much else. But seriously, the Middle East has got a large expatriate population. It will be fascinating to watch how people accept my film. Will they be politically correct and say, "What's the movie really about?" or will they pull an ostrich syndrome act and say, "This doesn't happen in our neighbourhood."
How would you categorise Cooking With Stella?
Cooking With Stella is about petty theft. There is a Stella in every one of us and there is a Stella in every Indian household. There is nothing detrimental about it. I am not trying to be didactic. It's an issue-driven film and we have dealt with it lightly. Look at it this way, it's set in a country where there is a Mercedes and a cow parked side by side.
What made you choose an upstairs-downstairs comedy like Cooking With Stella?
There is something terribly wrong when people have travelled to the moon and back, but we still have people serving us. The word "servant" should be erased from our lexicon.
