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Talati's tales of life

Firdaus Ali

While many film geniuses have struck gold by following their cinematic sensibilities, Jigar Talati of Toronto did this by listening to his heart.

Talati is yet another cinematic genius who has successfully experimented with a distinct visual style and an intriguing subject matter. His short-film Fly was chosen over hundreds of films to be screened at the Toronto Film Festival in September 1999. What makes the film special is that it was the only film made by a student of cinema included in the Festival.

"It is rare that a student's film gets to be screened at the fest. And that had me elated at first,'' smiles the young director, who is an honorary graduate of the York University's department of Film and Video in Toronto.

Born in Toronto, Jigar, a Canadian filmmaker of Indian origin, was terribly impressed by American cinema. Cupola's Godfather and French director François Truffaut's The 400 Blows won Jigar's acclaim and his American dream took the form of Fly.

Written, directed and produced by Jigar himself, the short-dramatic film is about Dash an East Indian boy who migrates to Canada at a young age. Growing up in Canada and having to endure racism and culture clashes leave him confused.

He swears by the Indian culture, yet finds himself surrounded by a strange Canadian mosaic. This and the pressure from his well-meaning but misguided parents to study medicine form the film's subject.

The film opens when his parents take an eight-year-old Dash to an Indian astrologer who, for the right price, alludes to a future in medicine. Overjoyed at this, his parents present him with a stethoscope in the hope that the expensive prophecy will pay off.

On his 18th birthday, Dash's house is filled with friends, dancing family members and high expectations. Dash must decide his own destiny and medicine isn't in his cards. Fly is a film brimming with elation, distinction and beauty in which Dash, in a mostly silent performance, learns to listen to his heart.

The film features local Canadian talent Anand Rajaram, Sam Moses, Ishwar Mooljee and Mishu Vellani in pivotal roles.

Incidentally, Anand, Sam and Ishwar have earlier acted in Mira Nair's My Own Country and Fly gave them a chance to explore their acting capabilities.

A keen visual style, strong sense of drama and intriguing subject matter edged with a sharp sense of humour lends Jigar's work a class of its own. The film is unique in a way, as it uses facial expressions more than dialogues to convey the message to its audiences.

An award-winning writer, director and producer, Jigar's first cinematic venture The Stand Up about comic stand-up artiste Russell Peters and the challenges he faces while attempting to break into the American mainstream won him the TELEFEST award for best documentary and was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival last year.

Before The Stand Up he directed a short video documentary, The Market Square about a central meeting place at a multi-cultural high school.

"I love writing scripts that are close to my heart," says a shy and reticent Jigar. Subjects may be related to close day-to-day encounters that have left an impact on him or even one single incident that made him think.

Fly is partly autobiographical in the sense that he adapted the idiosyncrasies of Dash's family from his own.

"And, I've told the story through drama and humour," says Jigar. Fly was also based on what Jigar saw happening around him while he was growing up. "It was one of those things where a lot of people I knew were being pressured to do what they didn't want to,'' says Jigar.

Seeing his friends deal with peer pressure and cultural imbalances inspired him to write the script for the film.

While, a neat script is the soul of a good film, Jigar is also an excellent technician.

He is a videographer par excellence and his most recent credits include: director of videography for Neal McDougl's The Night The Earth Stood Still ; videographer and co-producer, Herbie: The Voice of the Raptors and Jason Tan's video of Daniel McIvor's one-man show entitled Monster.

Besides filmmaking, Jigar has also worked as an instructor for the Bishop Strachan Film and Video Workshop in Toronto where he helped high-school students produce their own short videos.

With Fly getting the recognition it deserves, Jigar is back wielding magic on celluloid. He is closely working with Danny Chan, editor of Fly and Standup to develop a television series as well as a feature film based on the comedy of Russell Peters.

"I am enamoured by the power of the man. I want to make a film on his magic and spellbinding magnetism," says Jigar. His cinematic flight of fancy has only just begun.

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