Sooni Taraporevala is busy on the way to making a transition from being a screenplay writer to director. This debutant director of Little Zizou, in fact wanted to be an actress with specs and braces. She is unable to control her hysterical aughter reliving her little gal fantasies. By her own admission, she was a very odd kid. Her friends called her ‘Sooni The Loony,’ fondly. At anothre point, Sooni wanted to be a criminal lawyer becasue she had romantic notions of fighting for justice.But that too faded over time, she recalls overcome with giggles once again.
But somehow, this filmbug lingered in this Harvard educated Parsi girl from Gowalia Tank. That explains screenplays of acclaimed films like Salaam Bombay, Mississipi Masala, and The Namesake among others. And she debut directoral venture Little Zizou in its second week, ans she is hopping her way from multiplex to multiplex to check how her film’ s doing. For someone who is used to writing commissioned work, writing Little Zizou must have been a tough experience. Sighing about her long journey, Sooni says, ” after 20 years of writing for others, I wanted to write something totally for myself, and I was determined to direct it myself.”
She is also an accomplished photographer and has published a book of her photographs. Sooni says photography and screenplay writing are closely related. ” I think photography helps screenplay because I think visually and I think screenplay helps my photography in the sense that I am always thinking of narratives in my picture even though there is a frame, and very often there is a story within that frame.” Never having learnt screenplay writing formally, Sooni is averse to the idea of conducting screenwriting workshops. ” We have come a long way from neglecting screenwriting to teaching it in a very formulaic way. I hope we don’t replace the downfalls of screenwriting in America,” she says.
There have been compliments galore for Little Zizou, and of them all she cherishes one from a lady who lost her husband and had not been to the theatre for four years, but said Little Zizou made her really very happy. But what she loved most was the responses of the kids bucause they are always totally honest and they do not try to butter you up, feels Sooni. The film has recieved its fair share of criticism too. Some felt that it worked more as a book on the lines of Rohinton Mistry’s Tales From Firozsha Baug. She is cretain her next outing will be a Parsi story. For now, she is content in the space that she exists but there was one film review which apparently the newspaper that has her fuming. ” The viewer gave two stars, which is fine because you have your own opinion. But what she objected to was it being called a Parsi film. How many Parsi films are we going to tolerate? she asked. Aren’t Parsis Indians? How many Indian movies are actually made on Parsis? I do not understand why they characterise films.”