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Canadian NRI filmmaker Deepa Mehta to be honoured at IIFA

 

Yorkshire, UK, June 09, 2007
Satnam Singh

Today, the three day "International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA)" have begun in Yorkshire, UK. The Canadian director Deepa Mehta will be honoured for her remarkable work as a NRI director in a number of films.

IIFA is an academy with goal to promote Indian cinema globally. IIFA also organizes yearly awards and film weeks in a particular country to promote the Hindi Films and celebrate best movie, best director, best actor, best actress and other major award segments. Lifetime achievement awards are also presented to honor creative and/or technical excellence towards growth of Indian cinema.

NRI Deepa Mehta, Award-winning director whose film 'Water' was short-listed for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film, have finally come to terms with the NRI label. After many protests and threats of violence from various political/religious parties in India , the filming was stopped. Later the film was shot and completed in Sri Lanka, instead of Varanasi.

For the past few months, she has been looking after her widowed mother at her farm near Toronto because her father passed away.

According to IANS report:

"No work at all. Just looking after my mom."

"Though I wouldn't want to attend any public event for a long time this is an honour I can't disregard. Firstly, because I'm being recognised for my work by my country where I was made to feel unwelcome by a small section of the people during the making of 'Water'. And secondly, how can I say no to Mr. Bachchan?"

I got a beautiful letter from Mr. Amitabh Bachchan inviting me to the IIFA awards.

'The most interesting part of IIFA is that I get to meet filmmakers from India. I just attended a symposium on Satyajit Ray with Rituparno Ghosh and others. It was just so satisfying,' said Mehta, who is attending the IIFA Weekend for the first time.

Mehta is touched and amused. 'All my career I've fought the label of the NRI director. And now when I'm being honoured by my own movie industry, I've finally come to terms with the NRI label,' Mehta said from Yorkshire.

 

 


Canadian-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta