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Beyond troubled waters
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Devyani Saltzman's book, `Shooting Water', was recently released
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The film was resurrected in Sri Lanka four years after it was banned in India
PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
BEING HONEST Devyani Saltzman's book is a candid account of her personal and professional journey
Writing the book "Shooting Water" by Devyani Saltzman has been a catharsis of sorts for its 24-year-old author. Daughter of celebrated filmmaker Deepa Mehta and Paul Saltzman, Devyani was recently in New Delhi for the release of the book published by Penguin at Oxford Book Store.
The book, says the young author, is about a "mother-daughter journey and the making of a film" the - controversial Water on the widows of Vrindavan.
The film ran into trouble in India after some right wing groups not only ransacked her sets on the ghats of Banaras but also cast a shadow over the future of the film. Mehta was accused by protestors of presenting India in a bad light to cater to the sensibilities of the West.
"Shooting Water" is an account of Devyani's experience as a cinematographer shooting the much-troubled film and her growing relationship with Deepa during their stay in Varanasi.
A memoir
"It is not a confessional book but a catharsis or at best a memoir," Devyani asserted as she read some interesting paragraphs from the book on the occasion. "I had to undergo a lot of trauma at one go: the identity crisis for being half Jewish, half Hindu, and half Indian, half Canadian, apart from having to shuttle between two homes in India and Canada. And then the emotional problems of dealing with a broken home and divorced parents... It was also an experience of falling in love for the first time, which didn't work out. I was 11 when my parents divorced, and I met them together when I was 24. But meeting my mom as an adult, understanding her part and witnessing her as a daring professional proved to be a gap-bridging exercise."
Resurrecting `Water'
When Devyani shot for this film in 1999, she was 19. "The film was resurrected in Sri Lanka four years after it was banned in India. After the entire set in Banaras was set ablaze, my mom's effigy was burnt, and the District Magistrate declared that Water was a threat to public safety, my return to Canada proved to be a double loss for me. Not only because a good work of art was left incomplete, but also because I had to bid my mom good-bye before the stipulated time."
Not that Devyani, a freelance writer with a Canadian magazine and a graduate in Sociology and Anthropology from Oxford University, has only bitter memories of the journey. There are sweet ones too.
"I instantly felt connected to Lisa Ray (one of the actors in the film) when I met her on the sets. Maybe because like me she happens to be half Indian and half British. When the first producer Ajay decided to pull back his money after the trouble, the entire cast and crew declared they would work for mom, absolutely free. When my mom saw this book, she cried, not only because of the emotional bonding we share but also because she saw her child growing into a full-fledged writer! My father cried too. They shared the same seat after a long period when this book was released in Manhattan (New York) by the UN."
For now, Devyani is all set to pen her next book, which she says is a fictional story based on politics in India and Canada.
She is also striking a writing deal with Tehelka for the op-ed page.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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