Umm, news shortage

Nothing new to report, but Santosh Sivan, director of Before the Rains, was recently interviewed by Suruchi Mazumdar. Here are a few of his responses, found at Express India:

What kind of exposure will Before the Rains get at the Toronto film festival?
It is a great platform. Festivals like Toronto open up American and European markets for films. Apart from that, the best of film critics assemble at the Toronto fest.

Does Before the Rains romanticise India?
It is set in the 1930s when roads were being constructed through hills for spice trade. The story revolves around a Britisher who falls in love with his Indian housemaid (played by Nandita Das). He seeks the help of his farm assistant (Rahul Bose), who belongs to the woman’s tribe. It isn’t a typical Raj film but more of a human drama — it is about the farm assistant and his dilemma.

Are you targeting the international audience?
I will definitely want the film to be released in India as well. The date will be announced at the festival. It’s not a big-studio production but we want to reach out to mainstream audience. I think Before the Rains has a lot of new things to offer to the Indian audience.

India Interacts has another article about Santosh Sivan with some interesting quotage:

[...] Jointly produced by Hollywood studio Echo Lake and Sivan, the film revolves around the planter, played by Linus Roache, his wife (Jennifer Ehle), his lover (Nandita Das) and his assistant (Rahul Bose). "I was approached by them with a script set in a colonial background. I thought it was a story that could be set in the hills of Kerala. I often wondered as a kid as to who made these long winding roads through thick jungle. So writer Cathy Rabin spent time researching and adapted it to those times," Sivan told IANS. Though the Hollywood producers wanted to shoot the film in South Africa, Sivan was very keen on Munnar. And he had a valid reason. He said: "It is one of the places that seems as if it's like the Brits left it, especially the Tata Estate and their buildings, and our sound recorder Paul Scwartz found it silent enough to do live sound."
. . .
"Before the Rains", which was earlier titled "Road to the Sky", is relevant in today's time, feels Sivan."Though it's a period film set in 1937, it has human drama. It has a very contemporary and compelling story," said Sivan, who had earlier made a period film with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan titled "Asoka".
. . .
On the release of "Before the Rains" in the country, Sivan said: "I guess it will be only after the Toronto festival that everything will be finalised." [...]

Just for kicks: Red Coast created her own Pride and Prejudice Awards on livejournal, and guess who won the prize for Best Elizabeth? Of course, of course.

A little more "sweet" than "arch," one could take the position that Jennifer Ehle never embodies Elizabeth's bite. That's valid. However, she wins by default, because her performance is the only one that I like (and I do like it a lot.) She's the only Elizabeth who I didn't want to hit over the head with a tire iron.

Here is a list of the movies that were eligible for the 'competition':

• Pride and Prejudice, Lawrence Olivier and Greer Garson, 1940
• Pride and Prejudice, or First Impressions, Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul, miniseries, 1980
• Pride and Prejudice, Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, miniseries, 1995
• Pride and Prejudice, Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale, 2003, which I will be calling LDS because most of the characters are Mormons
• Bride & Prejudice, Aishwarya Rai, 2004. I'll be calling this B&P.
• Pride & Prejudice, Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, 2005

Visit Red Coast's Livejournal to see her other picks and the reasoning behind them. And, if you're interested, there are also some video clips from each of the six movies.

Lastly, the August 1996 edition of Tatler Magazine, featuring Jennifer Ehle on the cover, is available for purchase at ebay.

Out of town until Sunday, everyone, so tata for a few days.