Athena Film Festival / Mardi Gras Film Festival - Angry Indian Goddesses
A roller-coaster comedy-drama which explores the many facets of women in contemporary Indian society, Angry Indian Goddesses is the story of 7 boisterous women who meet in Goa for a surprise pre-wedding bash where they find their hearts but lose their heads!
Interview with Director Pan Nalin
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Our modern world today is in a mess, which has been generated mainly by the male humans; they alone created religions, economy, politics, and monstrous wars... It is high time, man should accept the fact that they have f***** it up. So now, we need to give space and chance to women. For those reasons alone we need to tell stories of women, and more so in a country like India.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES is your story, regardless of if you're a woman or man. Because It is ‘your’ story and it is entertainment at its best! There are no boring lives, only boring movies. AIG is life. Life that concerns all of us.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I believe all great themes are personal stories, and if it's a great story, universality is in its nature. I was attracted to the stories of many modern women and also great heroic women of the past. India witnessed rapid economic growth; and crashed right into the conflict of modernity versus traditions. Contemporary Indian women are at the centre of this unfolding - torn, troubled and tarnished modern era. To move on with time or stay with traditional values - or both? So I wanted to make a film which shows a reflection of that state of affairs, which Indian women are experiencing: career, society, love, family, sex… so while making Angry Indian Goddesses, it naturally transformed into universal theme.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
The scripting involved close observation of friends across India. Massive research, followed by hundreds of interviews. But along with that I created structure of the script which was free flowing, like jazz music.
Like each jazz musicians would influence the composition, each of the actresses heavily influenced the script and characters; and I really wanted that. Together with my co-writer Subhadra Mahajan and coach Dilip Shankar, we devised a system where the actresses will be transforming their characters and dialogues but without being aware. Their influence had to be so natural and organic that they did not even know that they were affecting the narrative. Besides that I also feel that in the 21st century we tend to over-write scripts; if that was not enough, we have script workshops, script mentors, script doctors, script editors… and that is a disaster in making for telling a great story. I’m an organic storyteller. Thus I need organic elements to influence my vision; human beings, plants, tress, food, water, air, animal, light, darkness…
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Just unbelievable. Too overwhelming. We thought just being selected as Special Presentation for the Red Carpet World Premiere at Toronto was such a big deal in itself that we all were totally content with that. We did not anticipate the response, which we started getting from day one. First came the media attention, then came the industry screenings where buyers from dozens of country acquired the film, then came the first public screening, then the world premiere… As the end credit started rolling, the massive and magnificent Elgin Theater exploded with applause, whistles and standing ovation. We all were moved to tears of joy and exhilaration.
Then as the seven gorgeous goddesses came on stage, one by one, waves of thunderous applause kept resonating in the full house. Seven beautiful Indian women standing in front of the glittering screen was indeed magical! But the biggest surprise was yet to come; AIG won the silver position, that too with very narrow margin, People’s Choice Award - the best award in the entire universe! Now that moment felt like we were truly making history.
We were told that it is probably the first Indian film to reach such a height in public popularity at TIFF, that too against Johnny Depp starer Black Mass or Matt Damon starer The Martian. Within the next two days, AIG got invited to fifteen other festivals across the globe; Zurich, Rome, Singapore… and continues to do so till today. Again in Rome we won the People’s Choice Award! Since then this routine has been set across the world! Now the film is in theatrical release across the globe! Blessings!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Yes and no. The feedback has been constant learning –and awakening regardless of the country or ethnicity of the audience. I guess that's what makes the story universal.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Just share what millions have already enjoyed and found it truly uplifting and inspiring.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of them are important for the film’s success; but in an order, which is starting with Producer, then Sales Agents, then distributors, then the exhibitors – the last two are the toughest to get. Because without them your film will never ever reach the audience. Then of course the media.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
For me films are not about impact or reception, first they should entertain - and inspire. Once that happens impact follows. With great impact comes the reception and respect. All of which we have got in plenty. We are satisfied! That's what I love to offer to audiences. Because if the audience is well entertained, then they’re bound to feel inspired. And when they’re inspired, they become open to receiving. And when we are open and receiving.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
It changes from country to country. There are series of issues already being debated about Angry Indian Goddesses: women's empowerment, gender inequality, violence, rape…Then there was a massive censorship debate in India on our film. We had to cut out words like “sexy” “orgasm” or “Indian Figure.” I thought that was outrageous. We were asked to blur all the images of Goddesses. This entire episode started a big debate on the role of women in Modern India and is still going on!
Would you like to add anything else?
I would like to add that the chemistry between all the actresses was so great, that it made AIG a worldwide success. To find that Chemistry we had to work hard at casting. First, AIG is an unconventional story and its soul rests in its characters. From the start I knew that if we go wrong in casting, this film would be a disaster. Thus began a phenomenal task of searching talents. For AIG we had got interest from 800 girls from all over India and abroad. My co-writer Subhadra Mahajan prepared a folder, which short-listed from well-known stars to non-professional actresses.
We wanted to explore women across all milieu: business, sports, music and so on. Casting director Dilip Shankar and myself selected about 200 potential candidates and auditioned them. Maybe audition is not the right word for us. It was a more like Rastafarian “reasoning” sessions where we encouraged talents to open their heart and share their life journey with us over 60 to 90 minutes each. And we are very proud to have discovered talents like Pavleen Gujral, Rajshri Deshpande and Amrit Maghera -all three natural born brilliant performers. We are also introducing pop diva Anushka Manchanda in her first lead role in a movie. These four talents unite with brilliant Sandhya Mridul and Tannishtha Chatterjee. Then there is Sarah-Jane Dias who surprised everyone in her new make-up-less avatar!
Then came the questions of their chemistry, which was prepared at several levels, information, emotional, practical, life-lessons involving meditation and Yoga, through writing, through music and dancing… Once all that was achieved then we started working on their characters. All those character briefs are inspired from real-life characters. Each character was a story in itself. We did a workshop with them with the help of Dilip Shankar where each one of them worked days and nights in building their personas and bringing their character to life.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am completing the first India-New Zealand coproduction titled THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EVA HANSEN; it is a Spiritual Thriller set in the Himalayas. There are also mainstream English language projects in development.
Interview: February 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Angry Indian Goddesses
A roller-coaster comedy-drama which explores the many facets of women in contemporary Indian society, Angry Indian Goddesses is the story of 7 boisterous women who meet in Goa for a surprise pre-wedding bash where they find their hearts but lose their heads!
Length: 104 mins
Director: Pan Nalin
Pan Nalin is renowned for films such as Samsara ( 2001), Ayurveda: Art of Being (2001), Valley of Flowers (2006) and Faith Connections (2013). Angry Indian Goddesses is Nalin’s latest film and it premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2015 where it won the Grolsch People’s Choice Award (1st Runner Up).
Producer: Gaurav Dhingra
Writer: Pan Nalin, Subhadra Mahajan, Dilip Shankar & Arsala Qureishi.
Key cast: Amrit Maghera, Anushka Manchanda, Pavleen Gujral, Rajshri Deshpande, Sandhya Mridul, Sarah Jane Dias & Tannishtha Chatterjee
Looking for: Buyers & distributors
Funders: Private
Made in association with: Protein Entertainment, India & One Two Films, Germany.