|
Magazine
Dual role
WHEN Meera Syal, wrote her first novel Anita and Me little did she realise that she would be setting a trend.
The book portrayed the life of a young Indian immigrant girl growing up in the English Midlands where "nothing ever happens". It was also in a way Syal's own story. The book won an award and Syal went on to write others but not quite in the same genre.
Now she has turned her first novel into a film, which she claims is miles away from the "usual stereotyping that one sees of the immigrant culture".
For Syal the writer, becoming Syal the screenplay writer was not too tough. "Adapting a book into a screenplay is serious business, I realise. One keeps the spirit of the book in mind so when I had to rewrite some of the scenes and cut out some, I did it without rancour."
Syal said that the film was not gimmicky and most importantly people were not slotted into preconceived roles. She admitted that a lot of the characters in the film had been taken from within her own family.
"Like the aunts who I remember as being very bossy and always dressed in bright clothes and a bit loud."
While Syal continues to write, she now claims to have turned her attention to films — not only writing scripts but also acting in some.
SUCHITRA BEHAL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
|
