John not taking Bips for Oscar

By Subhash K Jha

Deepa Mehta is as wound up as a Japanese doll. "Just two more days to go! John is on the way although his mother had pneumonia. Right now I'm only concentrating on the accessories for my sari for the Oscars night."

Deepa and her daughter Devyani are both donning Saris. "I'll be wearing my mother's pure-gold tissue-silk sari woven in Varanasi around 70 years ago. My mom has a gorgeous collection of saris which my dad's mother gave her. Who wants to wear a designer sari when I've my mother's treasured clothes at my disposal?

I'm trying to convince Lisa Ray to wear a sari too. I hope she does. But my daughter Devyani will also be wearing a sari. Why shouldn't we proudly wear our own clothes? Why should we get into dresses and compete with the Nicole Kidmans of Hollywood? It's very important for us to be proud of our Indian heritage"

About her whirlwind visit to Delhi and Mumbai promoting Water before its Indian release Deepa says, "I wanted to let my people know that I'm not scared of a fundmanetalist backlash any longer and that I'm very proud of the film."

After the Oscars Deepa Mehta takes time to complete the script of Exclusion. "I'll be going to my farm near Toronto to write the script. The images are already in place. I want to take the whole of March off to write."

As for the Oscar, "We've done all we could for Water. Now let's see what happens. This year the competition in the foreign-film category is really very tough. I agree our product is damn good. And even if we don't win the Oscar it's been a long long time since somebody walked the red carpet at the Oscars nite in a sari."