The Indian filmmaker discusses her movies, her characters, and her own history.
The Namesake (2007)
Nair met the film’s screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala her
freshman year.
In our culture, when men and women pay their final respects, we wear white. Maxine, Gogol’s girlfriend, comes to her boyfriend’s father’s wake in sleeveless black, the way one would do in the West. The rituals of death are so different in different cultures. But this frame isn’t just about rituals; it’s also about his girlfriend coming in and, however hard she tries, not feeling like she belongs.
Because we were doing a 30-year saga in two hours, every frame had to mean something. In this scene, which lasts less than a minute, we had to convey Gogol’s incapacity to embrace her, because he’s still in shock about losing his father. Until now, he lived entirely in her world, didn’t want her to be in his world. The rhythm of grief is so peculiar you can’t behave in the normal ways.
Spotlight
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The Internationalist
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The Accountant Who Roared
The Crusader
Vanitas
Perspective: Philip Kaufman
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