One of India's prominent filmmakers, Buddhadeb Dasgupta was named Best Director at the Indian National Awards this year "for his skillful weaving of different strands of life through metaphors, symbols and folk icons in Uttara." His films have gained increased festival exposure over the years, landing several audience prizes (at Fribourg and Nantes for example), a notable breakthrough for a director whose films are deemed inaccessible. Dasgupta was awarded a Special Director's Award at Venice 2000.

Tell us a bit more about you and your previous works...

Uttara is my eleventh film. I've been making films for the last 22 years. My films have been screened at many festivals -- Venice, Cannes, Berlin... Uttara got the Best Director Award in Venice. I also write poetry when I'm not making films, and before I used to teach Economics at university.

Did you start teaching economics?

I started writing poetry, teaching economics, dreaming cinema. At one point in time, I was teaching economics, making films and also writing poetry. Now, I'm only making two things, one at a time. When I'm not making films, I'm writing poetry. And when I'm not making anything, you can say I'm going back to my idleness. I'm a great admirer of idleness.

Do you think cinema is a good way to coalesce all your activities and passions?

Yes. That's why cinema is great to me. It is entertaining -- it has to entertain you -- but at the same time, it can whisper many things in you ears which are very important, are life. And for me, cinema is not only expressing my ideas, it's a shelter for me.

The original title of your film is Uttara, but abroad it circulates under the title The Wrestlers. Which title do you prefer?

I prefer both. Uttara is easier to pronounce, but it doesn't make any sense if you're not Indian. Uttara is a mythical woman in India, but nobody knows her outside India. So with The Wrestlers, people outside India can relate more easily to the film.

Tell us more about the mythical Uttara...

She is a lady from the Mahabarata (one of the oldest documents that depicts early Indian Civilization), the woman of Abhimanyu (one of the great heroes of the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas). She committed many sacrifices, got destroyed but was reborn.

Would you say Uttara commits a sacrificial deed in the film?

Well, she wanted to make her life meaningful, to make others' lives meaningful. She wanted to go beyond that physical reality between man and woman. She might have died in this film, but she might come back, as Uttara, or under any other name in my next film or in films made by others. As I told you, this Uttara character is mythical, a person who wanted to love, share her heart's dreams, but she was not accepted. She got killed but I'm sure that she will be back soon.

In the film, Uttara is killed by Hindu extremists. Did you mean to make a point about fanaticism?

Yes, political, religious fundamentalism is extremely dangerous. It is a kind of violence which is close to intellectual violence, also physical violence, and we have seen this thing happen in our world many times, not to even mention Hitler. Two things are the backbone of Hitler's philosophy: religious and political fundamentalism. The two together created something which was so violent that we will never forget the violence created by Hitler and his fascism. We will always remember. I think it is always dangerous when fundamentalism, in the guise of politics or religion, attacks us and tries to rule us.

What is your assessment of the present situation in India?

Well, Uttara is a film about my country, about the reality offered to me, about my time. But it is also a film about my dreams, and about my nightmares. But then again, it's not happening only in India, it has been happening in Europe, in America, in other parts of the world. So I think this film is just a comment on that violence. But then, you know, violence doesn't exist perpetually. In Uttara, you see leaves falling, and this shot comes back many times, so nature watches this violence from a distance and tells us: "It's not all, it's not the end of the world." There is something beyond that, life still exists beyond that. This little boy, in Uttara, is saved by those mass dancers, who sing beautiful songs about love, about life, about nature -- so that is important to me: life continues beyond violence.

How did you work on the beautiful lighting of Uttara?

I needed to have a special lighting and a special film speed. Apart from dialogue scenes, most scenes in the film are shot in either 26, 28 or 30 frames per second. You won't notice it, but it gives some kind of effect which is essential for this "magical reality." It is very close to 24, but the absorption of light is greater, and it gives a different speed, just a little bit slower. And I needed certain light conditions. Sometimes, I had to wait. And I prefer wide angle shots. Ninety-five percent of this film has been shot with wide angle lenses. I prefer that.

I guess Nimai and Balaram are more than just men in your film...

Yes, they're allegorical. When the film begins, we think that they're very close to each other. They could have been homosexuals ... But the whole world of their friendship is destroyed because they want to possess the same woman. They never love Uttara, just want to possess her.

The song sequences might seem reminiscent of "masala" cinema (India's trend of films with musical sequences)...

I saw those films when I was 5, you know. I was born very close to the place where I shot the film. I spent my early childhood close to that place (his father, and I used to see those mass dancers walking from village to village, with those beautiful masks, those beautiful songs, with those drums, singing, dancing... Their songs talk about love, life, nature, about good things on the earth. I'm now 55, you know. When I went back to the place of my childhood to shoot the film, I found they still exist. Like every folk art, they're very meaningful. Very sensible.

Will you continue to make films combining your sense of poetry and your political awareness?

Robin Gatto