The chosen location for Water was the holy city of
Varanasi, a place where widow houses still exist.
There is a building on the Ganges that was left in
a will to shelter widows, but a disobedient landlord
has converted the top two floors into a restaurant
and guest house, while the lower floor, which is completely
rundown, houses widows. Tourists sleep in their luxury
surroundings ignorant of the fact that below them
women are starving. Even the travelers’ bible,
the Lonely Planet Guide to India, has remained oblivious
to this and continues to promote "Ganapathi"
guest house on Meer ghat.
The day before filming was due to begin, the crew
was informed that there were a few complications with
gaining location permits. The following day we were
greeted with the news that 2,000 protesters had stormed
the ghats, destroying the main film set, burning and
throwing it into the holy river. Protesters burnt
effigies of Deepa Mehta, and threats to her life began.
There were three main political/religious parties
leading the angry mob: the BJP( Bharatiya Janata Party),
the VHU (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), both well established
groups within the state of Uttar Pradesh; and the
KSRSS (Kashi Sanskrit Raksha Sangharsh Samiti), a
party formed overnight from the RSS (Raksha Sangharsh
Samiti) specifically targeting Deepa Mehta. The KSRSS
claimed their role was as the guardians of the culture
of Varanasi and came forward with threats of violence
against her. The head of the RSS approaching press
with statements to support this:
"Breaking up the sets was far too mild an act,
the people involved with the film should have been
beaten black and blue. They come with foreign money
to make a film which shows India in poor light because
that is what sells in the west. The west refuses to
acknowledge our achievements in any sphere, but is
only interested in our snake charmers and child brides.
And people like Deepa Mehta pander to them."
(The Week magazine, India, Feb 13th, 2000)
A mob destroys the set of Deepa Mehta's Water
In order for a film to begin production in India,
the contents must be cleared with the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting. This had been done for
Water, but the local government withdrew location
permits citing that law and order could not be guaranteed.
The crew assembled in the first of what would be many
meetings to discuss what would happen to the production
of the film. The budget was tight; financing had come
mostly from one Canadian businessman. In addition,
the director and her partner, the executive producer,
had mortgaged their home in Canada to provide extra
funding. Over the next few days, Deepa would fly
to Delhi to meet with the Minister of Information
and Broadcasting to clear the contents of the script
again.
In an attempt to show sign of some kind of understanding
of the situation, Deepa made changes to her script,
but not without great reservations. The question was
how far a director should compromise in order to tell
a story. Is it more important to get a little of the
idea out rather than none at all? When does the compromise
reduce the impact of the original idea? The changes
were not enough, and Deepa was harassed for making
films that targeted aspects of the Hindu religion
rather than looking into other religions such as Christianity
or Islam. Why were her films saturated with this content?
The answer is simple: she is Hindu; she is an Indian
woman; these are the things she is familiar with.
The RSS claimed that the world did not need to hear
the problems of widows in India, arguing that Deepa
Mehta had been poisoned by western influences and
was simply looking for a story to sell to the world.
After three days of waiting, Deepa returned from
Delhi with permission again granted to make her
film. The local government was forced to allow filming.
Day one, the crew was delayed in leaving for location
by rumors of a 10,000-strong protest being held at
the ghats. Six hours later, it was determined that
the riots were a myth. The crew were escorted to location
by anti-riot squads armed with water cannons, smoke
bombs, tear gas, four battalions of the Rapid Action
Force, and almost 200 police. Under the blanketed
protection of the armed forces, filming commenced.
After two takes into the first shot of the movie,
government authorities hustled their way onto the
set. Law and order was at risk, they declared, and
filming must stop immediately. One key protester had
taken a boat out into the middle of the Ganges, consumed
poison, tied a rock around his waist, and jumped into
the water, yelling that Deepa Mehta and her film were
his reason for attempting suicide. Days later the
press revealed that the man, who was rushed to the
hospital and survived, was a professional suicide
attempter, employed by various political parties to
attempt his own execution for various political reasons.
This had been his sixth suicide attempt, and this
was the reason given for closing the film down. Law
and order was in jeopardy.
Despite the fact that filming had stopped, the protests
continued. Eleven activists threatened to set themselves
ablaze if filming resumed; effigies were burned; the
secretary of the KSRSS was on a hunger strike; and
there were death threats and bomb scares directed
at the crew.
Deepa Mehta contacted authorities to begin the fight
again, but the battle was lost. The local government
stated they would not consider reissuing the permits
for another three weeks, knowing that the finances
of the film could not maintain an idle production
for that long. The District Magistrate declared that
he was prepared to arrest the crew if filming took
place.
As a final statement to the Indian government, we
assembled on the day the film was shut down to take
part in a silent protest. The crew had traveled from
all corners of the globe — Hungary, Germany,
Canada, England, France, South Africa, and Australia
— with the simple aim of working on a film. Instead
we were drawn into something that would question our
rights of expression and freedom of speech through
threats of violence, powered by not entirely related
political motivations.
The Indian government had in fact revealed itself
to be inclined toward supporting the protesters. The
RSS, a strong political party across the country,
were attempting to show publicly the strength they
had over the local government using Deepa Mehta as
an example. Recent opinion polls had shown poor popularity
for the BJP, who were also looking to regain strength
and respect by overthrowing a project that they decided
threatened the core of Hindu values.
There were never any arrests made over the vandalism
that the film sets suffered when the protests began,
yet Deepa Mehta was threatened with arrest for aiding
an attempt at suicide and was forced to leave Varanasi.
The crew were also advised by the government to leave
the city immediately, as our safety could not be guaranteed.
In the weeks that followed, Deepa Mehta was invited
to other states in India with offers of new locations
for Water. The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh
had no qualms about doing this, admitting that his
invitation was motivated less by an interest in filmmaking
than by his desire to rebuff the RSS and BJP. Deepa
and her producers are adamant the film will be completed
despite losing 80 percent of the original budget.
Deepa received many messages of support from around
the globe, including a fax displaying a copy of a
full-page advertisement that George Lucas had placed
in Variety in March declaring his full support for
Deepa and forfeiting any future work in India.
