By Prithwish Ganguly
She has worked with Hollywood superstars like Denzel Washington and Reese Witherspoon but now Indian-born director Mira Nair is set to take on the "challenge" of directing Johnny Depp.
Depp stars in her next project, "Shantaram," based on the life story of Gregory David Roberts, whose book of the same name describes his escape from an Australian prison to Mumbai and his adventures with the city's powerful mafia dons.
Roberts, who was later captured and extradited to Australia, now lives in Mumbai and has set up a free health service for the poor and does some teaching, the author says on his Web site www.shantaram.com.
Roberts' book "gripped" New York-based Nair and she decided to direct the film with Depp playing "Lindsay" -- the central character who is modeled on Roberts.
Nair was born in the eastern Indian state of Orissa in 1957 left for the United States at the age of 19 after receiving a scholarship from Harvard university.
Her debut film, "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) about Mumbai's underbelly, won the Golden Camera Award at the Cannes Film Festival that same year.
Some of Nair's critically acclaimed works include "Mississippi Masala" (1991), "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love" (1996), "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), "Vanity Fair" (2004) and "The Namesake" (2006).
Q: You recently agreed to direct "Shantaram." When will you start work on the film?
A: "Well, I have just got the offer a few days back but I will start with it soon. It is a book that completely gripped me as it did millions of others."
Q: You have Johnny Depp as the leading actor in "Shantaram." Your thoughts about him playing the role of Lindsay.
A: "Johnny Depp is such an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary actor and he embodies so much what Shantaram is and so when he asked me to direct him it was obviously a great honor and challenge for me."
Q: Why and how did you choose to make a career in film making?
A: "I was an actor in political theater and got a scholarship to go to Harvard when I was 19 and there the theater was not so politically engaged and I took the next best thing which was documentary film making and made documentaries for about 7 years till I directed 'Salaam Bombay!"'
Q: What has been your motivation/inspiration behind film making?
A: "My films definitely reflect the life I live and my films 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'The Namesake,' which is coming out in March, are very much to do with my family. So, my films definitely reflect what I am going through in my own life."
Q: You have been very choosy about the themes you have made films on. How do you decide on the theme before you make a movie?
A: "Well I am a very intuitive person. If I have an idea that just doesn't let me go, that's my film. You know 'The Namesake' was born out of that for instance."
Q: How would you define your cinema?
A: "I like to reach millions of people with my cinema so for me life is very important -- humour, sorrow but I like to hold my work as a mirror to the world and I like to make films that wake people up while they are enjoying them."
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