The Hindu Business Line : The reel India

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty recently received the Silver Star Award in London for her outstanding contribution to international humanitarian causes, particularly for increasing HIV/AIDS awareness. Just a few weeks earlier she was in Sydney to promote her new film, Life in a… Metro, and the lounge of the Taj Blue hotel at the Woolloomooloo wharf in Sydney was abuzz with photographers, outnumbering journalists, awaiting the glamorous actress’ arrival in the Harbour city.

It was about the same time that the World Cup winning Australian cricket team was receiving accolades at Martin Place, in the heart of Sydney. Indian cricket and Indian cinema both make news in equal measure here.

Clad in a traditionally embroidered long kurta and trousers, Shilpa said at the outset that the briefing was about the film, but this didn’t deter the journalists from quizzing her on the Celebrity Big Brother experience and the more recent controversy involving Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

On the public interest litigations and strong protests in several cities across the country following Gere’s embrace and peck on her cheek during an anti-AIDS awareness programme in Delhi, Shilpa hoped the controversies and headlines would not obscure larger issues like the AIDS epidemic facing India.

She said, “These are not the sentiments of the majority of people and it saddens me that this is how the West will perceive India. The question people should be asking is — why were we there? We were two responsible people, who had taken time off to promote a vital cause. It has been blown out of proportion. Heroes and heroines have been kissed on screen, so why all this fuss? He had come all the way from Los Angeles to promote a cause for our country. Our country has so many bigger issues and we should be focusing on them.”

It was her much appreciated portrayal of an HIV patient in the 2004 film Phir Milenge that had inspired her to campaign for HIV/AIDS awareness. “I believe in promoting the inalienable rights of all people to live with dignity, whether it is AIDS or racism,” she said.

Shilpa had suffered racist taunts from housemates on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, setting off a backlash that ranged from protesters setting fire to effigies of the producers to a formal diplomatic protest by India. She went on to win the reality show with 67 per cent of the public vote.

In her brief speech after receiving the Silver Star Award, Shilpa said Labour MP and NRI leader in the UK, Keith Vaz, had played an important role when she was racially abused by some of the contestants. A believer in destiny, she said whatever happened there was “destiny, but the purpose of getting the message across – that racism shouldn’t be encouraged – worked…”

Controversy sometimes has a silver lining; for Shilpa, it has resulted in international recognition. In Life in a… Metro, the actress plays a bored housewife in an illicit friendship with a man she meets at a railway station. “The film portrays a very progressive and modern India. There is an amalgam of entertainment and realism. In our Bollywood films, there is a clear line between the hero and the villain, but in this film there are no heroes or heroines, the characters are very human, capable of making mistakes.”

Shilpa wants to dispel preconceived notions about Bollywood movies and India. The eloquent actress said, “This is a film I would love the West to see. It portrays what many in the world still don’t believe happens in India. We have people who are vulnerable, people who respect the culture but also have extramarital affairs and are going through divorces, people who are gay, people forced into arranged marriages.”

Life in a… Metro, directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Ronnie Screwvala for UTV, is being distributed in Australia by MG Distribution, which in the past five years has become the leading distributor of Indian films in Australi a, New Zealand and Fiji, raising the profile and visibility of Indian films in this part of the world.

Shilpa puts the film in the category of good cinema with a universal appeal. Giving an insight into how the film was conceived by Basu while he was fighting blood cancer and was fed up of being told that he would die in three weeks, she said, “Eighteen months on, he was doing well. His complete survival spirit strongly comes across in the film. Every film leaves you with a thought. In this film it is, ‘Live life, value the present, and don’t forget the true essence of life in looking for a better life’.”

For most Australians, Bollywood films are largely about song and dance and Shilpa acknowledged that of the 50 films she has acted in, 47 fall in that typical Bollywood category.

“But in this film, I have pushed the envelope and done something different. You may call it a ‘cult film’. It portrays a true model of India. Whatever you see in the film is definitely a reflection of the fast-paced life in a metro today. There is a dichotomy — the urban culture and sensibilities of rural people are quite different.”

She wants to be a responsible actor, entertain people and said, “The rest will follow. At the moment I want a big holiday.”

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