Renowned United States-based filmmaker Mira Nair is planning to return to India and, looks forward to contributing in imparting training to the upcoming filmmakers in the country for making cinema better and rich.
The 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2010, in its Retrospective Section, has featured the works of Ms. Nair. She was present on the occasion here on Tuesday, along with some cast and crew members of her debut film Salaam Bombay .
At a press conference, Ms. Nair said the idea was to set up a training school on the lines of her Maisha School of Film Teaching in East Africa, where student filmmakers were given an opportunity to work with the young, experienced and senior filmmakers.
She stressed need to enhance content, message and value in screenplay writing to usher India into an era of world class filmmaking.
“India has tremendous talent in all areas of filmmaking, which needs to be supplemented with more impetus on providing thought provoking stories, subjects and themes,” she said, adding that script formed the real foundation of a film. The problems and issues concerning under-privileged people at the grass roots would always be thepriorities in her films one way or the other.
Writer Sooni Taraporevala and actors Nana Patekar, Shafiq Syed and Dinaz Stafford were present.
In response to a question, Ms. Nair said that her upcoming film Reluctant Fundamentalist , based on Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid's story, would help her put forth her viewpoint with respect to issues like Islamophobia in the Western world, especially in the South Asian perspective. She was looking forward to the participation of several Pakistani actors in the film.
Dinaz Stafford said they had set up the Salaam Baalak Trust in Mumbai for the cause of slum and street children, who needed to be provided with better education and quality of life.
