By Hemisha Morarji
“You can take the man out of India, but you can’t take India out of him”
Director and producer stays true to his Indian roots in Naachle London, but injects it with the quirk and intelligence of great British films. With over 25 years of experience in the film industry, his past credits include Indie-Brit flick Ealing Comedy, hailed “the best movie I’ve seen since Juno” by BBC’s Nikki Bedi and Lost Dogs, which the Cambridge University gradate produced.
While we chat down the phone, Neville discusses his ‘Asian business-style’ way of making movies, how his 19 year old son inspired the film and how he hopes that Asians across the globe will embrace Naachle London as “their film…”
You wrote the script with Niraj Kapur and two other writers. What inspired the script?
Niraj came up with the first draft, which was inspired by a real experience. He took his young daughter to a Bollywood dance class and it (the script) started from there. And my contribution to later drafts was inspired by my 19 year old son. He was desperate to get into football, so I helped him in trying to attain a level 1 football scholarship. So part of the story about parents trying to get involved in their children’s hobby came from that.
This is the first Bolly-Brit flick to hit the screens. Whose idea was it to merge the two genres?
I hold my hand up! Guilty as charged! It all came down to my experience in independent British films – I have already made three indie Brit films and I was looking to make a film with the same vibe as Son of Rambo, Bend It Like Beckham and Billy Elliot, you know the quirky sort of films.
But since the economic collapse, I came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to find an audience for an indie film, so I had to find a new model.
I wanted to do something that was true to myself; as they say, you can take the man out ofIndia, but you can’t take theIndiaout of him. So I began looking seriously into Bollywood films and studying contemporary Bollywood to see what is going on. I wanted to see how I could be different, because I didn’t want to copy. There’s always that risk that when you copy, the film turns out to be quite lame!
The film doesn’t use the sexed up leading man and woman, as seen in Bollywood films. Was this because you wanted the film to be realistic?
That is correct! We wanted to go for heightened realism – the film is real, but it is heightened. In Naachle London, our hero lives in a council flat, which is grim but not as grungy as those you see in British dramas like Attack the Block.
Also, with regards to the storytelling, we wanted our characters to go through personal development. For instance, our hero is quite a vulnerable one – he does something wrong, realises what he has done and tries to make it right.
This is your second time in the director’s seat. Do you feel a lot more confident after the success of your last film Ealing Comedy?
To be honest, I’ve never felt confident. I have always beaten myself up hugely – right back when I used to direct theatre plays, I always felt as though I’ve done a terrible job. Even if I win an Oscar, I’ll always think, “I wish I’d done that.”
Kulvinder Ghir starred in Ealing Comedy. What was it like working with him again?
I have an Asian family business style of making films – the very same style many Asians adopt when running corner shops and take-away restaurants. Kulvinder is like a member of the family, it’s like working with a younger brother. In fact, my son, who was 14 at the time, played Kulvinder’s character’s son in Ealing Comedy! So yes, it’s like getting back to a relative, we have our arguments, but we also have our good times (laughs)
(Laughs) According to the press release, the film blends Bollywood with international film stylistics and techniques. Can you tell us a bit about it?
The storytelling is very fast-paced and a lot of recent Bollywood films are doing this as part of the new wave of cutting edge film making. The great thing about our characters is that they are not black and white – there are shades of grey in all of them – and these are much more international film elements.
But the main story in which the father of the girl disapproves of the boy because he doesn’t have any money or any prospects, is an archetypal Bollywood theme. It’s a major obstacle found mostly in Indian culture.
Tell us a bit about the soundtrack.
Ha! We have six wonderful songs that really capture the spirit of Bollywood. We had a wonderful team behind us during the making of this film, everyone from the editor to the costume designer. But the person who I feel has done an extraordinary job is music Jayanta Pathak.
The first song, Naachle London is a fast paced dance tune and the female item song, Oh No is a strong, dance-driven track.
We also have an urban rap song called No Problem and two other Hindi songs – one is a 1990s, 80s picturesque song, which appealed to me the most because those decades were when I was watching Bollywood films inIndia!
The script deals with a lot of issues such as divorce, recession and interracial relationships. How important is it that films cover issues that affect its audience?
I can’t image any international film in theUKthat doesn’t cover issues relating to us – I mean, how would they? Every writer begins with what they know. Imagine making something that isn’t topical? It would be very difficult to understand. Every story needs good drama and conflict.
The success of Bend It Like Beckham shows that there is a market for British Asian films. Are you hoping that Naachle London will achieve the same level of success?
Bend It Like Beckham is an international film that belongs in the same category as the Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Slumdog Millionaire, all of which are great British films. We are proud to be carrying the flag of British Asian films. Bend It Like Beckham held the flag first, which was then passed into 4 Lions and now we’ve taken it up.
We hope that British Asian, as well as national Asians embrace Naachle London as ‘their film’, in the same way the British embraced the King’s Speech as theirs.
However, we’re not hoping to attain the financial success of Bend It Like Beckham. The film made the producer $75 million, but only because it was an English speaking film, whereas ours is a Hindi film. But we hope we will attract a considerable amount of success inIndia.
What would you like to say to the Asian World readers?
Please come out and support your film! We make these films to create jobs for people, especially during recessions like this one. Please come out and support us!
