MUMBAI: Internationally acclaimed film-maker Mira Nair says she would love to work with Bollywood stars, but says they don’t have time for her films.
“I would love to work with the stars here [in Bollywood], but they don’t have much time for me. They don’t have the dates I want,” the 55-year-old said on Saturday at the re-release of her 1988-film, Salaam Bombay!.
Nair believes that an actor must be powerful.
“I’ve worked with Irrfan [Khan], Shabana Azmi, Om Puri; we worked with Nana Patekar and we made him a star. So I don’t look at actors as stars, they just have to be extremely powerful,” Nair said.
“Look at Tabu in The Namesake, her performance was extraordinary. So for me it’s the power of an actor and we have so many powerful actors here. I am coming back [to India] to make a film,” she added.
The film-maker’s latest venture is The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a film based on an eponymous novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. The film is slated to release in India on May 10.
In the meantime, Nair’s 1988 film Salaam Bombay!, which was even nominated for an Oscar, is re-releasing on March 22.
Talking about Salaam Bombay!, she said she is glad to bring the film back to where it happened and changed the lives of thousands of street children.
“A film that we made with all our life, blood has literally changed the world because we have changed the lives of many street children through Salaam Balak Trust, the foundation that we made through the profits of Salaam Bombay!,” she said.
“It’s a wonderful thing to bring it back home, especially the city that gave me this great gift of this great film. To have the young people of today to see the film in theatres in a brand new digitally re-mastered print,” added Nair.
Salaam Bombay! features actors like Raghuvir Yadav, Nana Patekar, Irrfan Khan and Aanjjan Srivastav, and it is being re-released through PVR Director’s Rare.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2013.
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