<strong>Film</strong> India Worldwide
FILM INDIA WORLDWIDE AIDS JAAGO A Mirabai <strong>Film</strong>s production In Association with AVAHAN The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 102 IFFI-2007 Executive Producer: Mira Nair Under the auspices <strong>of</strong> Mirabai <strong>Film</strong>s and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS ‘JaaGO’ Project presents four short dramatic films by cutting-edge Indian directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar that aim to dismantle myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Each film uses wellknown Indian movie stars to maximize the exposure <strong>of</strong> the films to audiences throughout India. Actors like Prabhu Deva, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Shiney Ahuja, Ayesha Takia, Boman Irani, Raima Sen, Siddarth and Sameera Reddy have joined a host <strong>of</strong> other known actors in the collective cast <strong>of</strong> the film. This project was the brainchild <strong>of</strong> Mira Nair and is produced by her company, Mirabai <strong>Film</strong>s. The four AIDS JAAGO films come from different parts <strong>of</strong> India - each in its own genre, and each with a different point about HIV/AIDS. AIDS JaaGo literally means “AIDS Awake”. Though this is not the first time that a film has been made in India with HIV/AIDS as the backdrop, this project is unique because it brings together four highly-talented storytellers on the big screen together, to tell a story that depicts the impact <strong>of</strong> HIV/AIDS on the common India, in their own, inimitable way. While Nair herself has directed Migration, she enlisted ace cinematographer-director Santosh Sivan who has come up with Prarambha, director-music composer Vishal Bharadwaj who has contributed to the project with Blood Brothers and young Indian cinema’s mascot Farhan Akhtar who has taken a Positive look at the subject. In Migration, Shiney Ahuja plays a rural labourer who leaves his wife (Raima Sen) for work in Mumbai, where he enters into a forbidden game with a frustrated woman, played by Sameera Reddy, and her closeted husband, played by Irfan Khan. In Prarambha, ace choreographer Prabhu Deva, who is also an actor and director, plays a a truck driver who helps a boy on a journey to find his HIV-positive mother. Blood Brothers, on the other hand, is a thriller about a man played by Siddharth reacting to his HIV diagnosis, even as Positive deals with the tale <strong>of</strong> a young boy and his parents, played by Arjun Mathur, Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi coping with the impact <strong>of</strong> AIDS. Each <strong>of</strong> these four short films are planned to be screened before the main movie starts in cinema theatres in India, while all <strong>of</strong> them would be packaged together for broadcast on national television. About the directors: © Antonio Martinelli Mira Nair: Director/Writer/Producer Mira Nair virtually needs no introduction, as © Antonio Martinelli her highly-acclaimed body <strong>of</strong> work itself is her identity. Born in Bhubaneswar in 1957 and educated at Delhi University and Harvard University, Nair began her artistic career as an actor before turning her attention to film. She found early success as a documentary filmmaker, winning awards for So Far From India and India Cabaret. In 1988, Nair’s debut feature, Salaam Bombay!, was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language <strong>Film</strong>. It also won the Camera D’Or (for best first feature) and the Prix du Publique (for most popular entry) at the Cannes <strong>Film</strong> Festival as well as 25 other international awards. Each <strong>of</strong> her subsequent films - Mississippi Masala, The Perez Family, Kama Sutra: A Tale <strong>of</strong> Love, The Laughing Club <strong>of</strong> India, Monsoon Wedding, Hysterical Blindness, Vanity Fair and The Namesake, have been landmark films in more ways than one. Nair also joined a group <strong>of</strong> 11 renowned filmmakers, each commissioned to direct a film that was 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame long, following the infamous 9/11 attacks on the US. Nair’s film is a retelling <strong>of</strong> real events in the life <strong>of</strong> the Hamdani family in Queens, whose eldest son was missing after September 11, and was then accused by the media <strong>of</strong> being a terrorist. Nair has been a mentor in film <strong>of</strong> the prestigious Rolex Protégé Arts Initiative, to help guide young artists in critical stages <strong>of</strong> their development. Now preparing for her next film Shantaram with Warner Brothers, starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan, Nair has also established an annual filmmaker’s laboratory, Maisha, dedicated to the support <strong>of</strong> visionary screenwriters and directors in East Africa and South Asia. Santosh Sivan: Santosh Sivan is from Kerala and is a renowned cinematographer, having shot a large number <strong>of</strong> acclaimed films – about 45 features and 41 documentaries. A five times National Award winner for cinematography and a couple more for direction, his The Terrorist was internationally acclaimed. His latest film, Before the Rains, had its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto International <strong>Film</strong> Festival. He has directed films like Halo, Asoka, Malli, Navarasa and Anandabhadram. Vishal Bhardwaj: Bhardwaj, a cricketer who took up music as his pr<strong>of</strong>ession, turned a director with Makdee, a children’s film. He received critical and commercial success from, Omkara, adapted from Shakespeare’s Othello. Arguably one <strong>of</strong> India’s most recognized young directors, he has earlier adapted Macbeth to make Maqbool, and has also made Blue Umbrella, based on a Ruskin Bond story. Farhan Akhtar: The son <strong>of</strong> lyricist Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar burst onto the Indian cinema scene with Dil Chahta Hai, a film that almost became the emblem for the urban India youth. He made a not-so-successful war movie Lakshya before recently giving a remake twist to Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role.