Deepa Mehta is an Indo-Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter who is also the co-founder of Hamilton-Mehta Productions . Often described as a “transnational” artist, her movies which are usually based on controversial topics, challenging traditions and stereotypes, have been played at almost every international film festival.
Wiki/Biography
Deepa Mehta was born on Sunday, 1st January 1950 (age 72 years; as of 2022) in Amritsar, Punjab, India . She moved to Delhi with her family in her childhood itself and did her schooling at Welham Girls High School, Dehradun which was a boarding school. Mehta went ahead to get a degree in Hindu Philosophy from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. After her graduation, Deepa made some documentaries in India. Later in 1973, she married a Canadian documentarian and moved to Canada and has been living there ever since.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Deepa Mehta belongs to an Indian film industry family. Her father Satwinder Mehta made a living by becoming a film distributor and her mother Vimla was a homemaker. Her younger brother Dilip Mehta, an Indo-Canadian photojournalist too has brought home laurels for his five-year coverage on the Bhopal gas tragedy. The brother-sister duo worked together to write the script of Cooking with Stella (2009).
Deepa Mehta’s brother Dilip Mehta
Talking about her relationship with cousin Ritu Kumar who is a well-known designer, Deepa said,
I was about 2 years old when she announced to the family that I looked like a doll and my pet name courtesy her became ‘Dolly’! Terribly embarrassing to get rid of as I became older!”
Husband & Children
Deepa fell in love and married Canadian Documentarian Paul Saltzman in India in the year 1970. Three years later, the couple moved to Toronto, Canada and welcomed their daughter Devyani Saltzman who is now an eminent author and a critic herself.
Deepa Mehta’s husband Paul Saltzman
Deepa Mehta with daughter Devyani Saltzman
Mehta got separated and divorced Paul in 1983 after which she married Canadian film producer David Hamilton, who holds an MBA from Harvard University. He is also the co-founder of Hamilton-Mehta Productions .
Deepa Mehta with her husband David Hamilton
Religious Views
Expressing her religious views on Hinduism in an interview, Deepa stated,
Hinduism didn’t start as a religion. It started as a philosophy. It’s a way of life. Whether you go from Shankara-chariya to Ramanuja… the charvaka school… the yoga school or any of the other Hindu schools of thought. You had the charvakas who were totally- who came out as a reaction to the Brahmanical [philosophy]. There has always been an antithesis or a questionmark, and Hindu philosophy has always been one that has questioned itself and realized that only by changing, by evolving, can a way of thinking, or a way of thought or a philosophy flourish. That’s the beauty of Hinduism”
She further elaborated the extremism in all the religions and quoted,
But then you have extremists coming in and that changed the perception and people who live Hinduism, and the people who dont… from one of the most open-minded schools of thought or philosophy or religion, ever in the world, to be an extremist one. Suddenly you had the BJP on the right and the RSS. I think that when extremist forces come in, whether it’s in Hinduism, whether it’s in Islam, whether it’s in Christianity as it is right now… or even in Buddhism, what happens is first an interpretation of a thought or a religion becomes the law. It becomes exclusive, and that’s the danger.”
Signature/Autograph
Career
Filmmaker
Deepa Mehta directed her first documentary At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch in 1975. Before making her own first feature film Sam & Me (1991), she directed a few more documentaries like K.Y.T.E.S: How We Dream Ourselves (1986), Traveling Light (1986), Martha, Ruth and Edie (1988) and Saltzman produced CBC drama Danger Bay (1984–90).
Deepa Mehta directing a film
Best known for her courageous and provocative Elements Trilogy, she directed Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005) which on one hand, won her both recognition and appreciation and on the other hand made her a target of extremists in India. The Element Trilogy was way ahead of its time and depicted uncomfortable social realities like a lesbian relationship between two housewives of estranged marriages (Fire), uprooting of a family during the India-Pakistan partition (Earth) and the atrocities on a widow because of the conservative rituals and customs of the society (Water).
Some other notable works under her direction are Bollywood/Hollywood (2002), The Republic of Love (2003), Heaven on Earth (2008), Midnight’s Children (2012), Beeba Boys (2015), Anatomy of Violence (2016) and Funny Boy (2020). This includes some episodes of the television series Young Indiana Jones, asked by Star Wars director George Lucas to direct for him. Her recent directions include Leila (2019), Little America (2020) and Yellowjackets (2021). Talking about her career as a filmmaker, Mehta quoted,
I see myself as a very emotional filmmaker rather than a radical,”
Producer
After completing her education, Mehta started working for a production house in India. At the time of her marriage, she was in the middle of producing her first feature-length film based on a child bride. She started a production house named Sunrise Films with her husband Paul and brother Dilip in Canada. They produced documentaries and television series Spread Your Wings (1977–79). She is now the co-founder of Hamilton-Mehta Productions and has produced some exemplary films such as K.Y.T.E.S: How We Dream Ourselves (1986), Martha, Ruth and Edie (1988), Sam & Me (1991). She has also produced two out of the three films of her critically acclaimed Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996) and Earth (1998).
Controversies
- After the making of her controversial movie Fire, Deepa enraged some sections of the society which is why she was labelled as anti-national and her effigy was burned. Even the stars of her upcoming films were threatened.
- The production of her movie Water was delayed for four years because the extremists destroyed the sets, issued death threats to her and the actors, took to the street and started riots, forced the shutdown of the production of this film in India as they believed their traditional values were hurt. Eventually, the movie was shot in Srilanka.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBtsWkioVhM[/embed]
Awards, Honours, Achievements
For Anatomy of Violence
- Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema by Washington DC South Asian Film Festival in 2016.
For Beeba Boys
- Clyde Gilmour Award by Toronto Film Critics Association Awards in 2015.
For Midnight’s Children
- DGC Team Award – Feature Film by Directors Guild of Canada in 2013.
For Heaven on Earth
- Muhr AsiaAfrica Award: Best Scriptwriter – Feature by Dubai International Film Festival in 2008.
For Water
- Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema by Awards of the International Indian Film Academy in 2007.
- Silver Mirror Award – Best Feature by Oslo Films from the South Festival in 2006.
- Humanitarian Award by New York Film Critics in 2006.
- Audience Award – Best Narrative Feature by San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2006.
- Arte Award by Taormina International Film Festival in 2006.
- Best Director – Canadian Film by Vancouver Film Critics Circle in 2006.
- Best Foreign Movie by or About Women by Women Film Critics Circle Awards in 2006.
- Honorary Director Award by Toronto Female Eye Film Festival in 2005.
- Youth Jury Award by Valladolid International Film Festival in 2005.
For Bollywood/Hollywood
- DGC Team Award – Feature Film by Directors Guild of Canada in 2003.
- Best Screenplay, Original by Genie Awards in 2003.
- Student Jury Award by Newport International Film Festival in 2003.
- Audience Award – Best Comedy by Sarasota Film Festival in 2003.
For Fire
- Best Feature Film by Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival in 1997.
- Outstanding Narrative Feature by L.A. Outfest in 1997.
- Best Film by Verona Love Screens Film Festival in 1997.
- Special Prize of the Jury by Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival in 1996.
- Most Popular Canadian Film by Vancouver International Film Festival in 1996.
Miscellaneous Awards and Honours
- Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (2007 Academy Awards).
- Honorary doctorates from five Canadian universities.
- Named one of Canada’s Top 100 most powerful women (Women’s Executive Network, 2011)
- Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winner (2009).
- Global Leadership Award by Indian International Film Awards in 2011.
Deepa Mehta receiving an award at the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto on Sunday, March 31, 2019
Facts/Trivia
- Deepa grew up in Punjab next to the border of Pakistan. She has had a keen interest in the tales of partition. Speaking about the same she says,
Even when I was growing up in Amritsar, we used to go every weekend to Lahore, so I just grew up around people who talked about it incessantly and felt it was one of the most horrific sectarian wars they knew of.”
- Besides being a filmmaker and a producer, Deepa Mehta has also tried her hand in acting. She can be seen as Ranjeet Singh in the episode Reasonable Force of the television series For The Record (1983).
- She has done cameos in films like Jurm (1990) and Aashiqui (1990).
- A little known fact about Deepa Mehta is that she did a special appearance in her most talked about movie Water (2005).
- When asked about her favourite character in the film Water, Mehta said,
In the film? Shakuntala.”
- She serves on the board of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Toronto International Film Festival, and on the Minister’s Advisory Council for Arts and Culture (Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport).
- Deepa Mehta loves to enjoy alcoholic beverages on various occasions.