The premiere of Christmas Karma was held at a multiplex in Mumbai on December 2. Organized by PVR INOX Pictures, it was graced by Nayana Bijli, Lead: Distribution and Licensing, PVR INOX Limited and executive producers Anushka Shah, Sunil Sheth, while the chief guest was Amruta Fadnavis. After the film’s screening, director Gurinder Chadha had a lovely conversation with none other than Karan Johar about the film and a lot more. Gurinder didn’t mince words when she said that she got a raw deal from a section of the media in her home country, the United Kingdom.
Gurinder said, “Sadly, some of the people in England have not engaged with the content of the film. They just said, ‘You can’t do a Christmas film’. I replied, ‘Yes, I can. Watch me’! I mean, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh and all of them were saying the same thing that we wanted to live our life our way. I am trying to carry that tradition through film and entertainment.”
Karan Johar asked, “Are they questioning your audacity?”. Gurinder replied, “They are actually questioning my right to adapt Dickens and make a film about Christmas. Interestingly, when I adapted Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice and made Bride & Prejudice (2004), no one said anything. That wasn’t an issue at all. So, I think it’s a marker of how (the United Kingdom) has changed.”
She then narrated an incident, “My children see race differently compared to me. When my son was 8, he was in the school playground. His classrooms had English boys and just 2 Indian boys, including him. One of the English boys turned to the other Indian boy and said, ‘Your skin is the same colour as poo’. Everyone froze, including my son.”
She continued, “Then one English boy told him, ‘You can’t say that. That’s wrong’. The bully replied, ‘Yes, I can, because it’s true’. My son didn’t know what to do. He didn’t understand racism, as such. Out of nowhere, all the English boys surrounded that bully and said, ‘Take it back. That’s racist. You are not allowed to say that’. Now, this was very different from my experience. My son came home, told me what happened and asked me, ‘Was it racist, mom?’. I said, ‘When he said it, did you feel that he was trying to be mean? Did that upset you?’. He replied, ‘Yes’. I concluded, ‘Then, it was racist’.”
Gurinder remarked, “It’s a constant reminder that we are always having to negotiate and fight the status quo. But at the same time, we have made huge achievements, which we also need to celebrate. In this case, I made this film not just for my children but for all the English boys.”
Gurinder Chadha then revealed, “The Asian community in Britain has been overwhelmed and the message that I get is that they are so proud of the product. They feel that it’s a part of themselves that they get to relive again, and also deal with it for the first time. Hence, it has touched a raw nerve in the Asian community. So, now, what’s happening is that a lot of people are questioning the initial reviews that tried to dismiss the film.”
She added, “I am doing a press tour in India. People here are quite shocked. They don’t understand (why the film got negative reviews). They tell me, ‘It’s a really good film. We don’t understand what’s going on’. I said, ‘Welcome to the world of racism, guys’! This is it. I mean, for The Telegraph to give it zero stars, I must say that when I saw that review, I burst out laughing. I was like, ‘This is hilarious’ because it shows the world what I have to go through to raise funds and tell my stories.”
The post Christmas Karma premiere: Gurinder Chadha BREAKS silence on getting ZERO rating from The Telegraph: “Welcome to the world of racism, guys!”; reveals SHOCKING incident witnessed by her son in school: “An English kid told an Indian boy, ‘Your skin is the same colour as…'” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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