BUBBLY CHILD STAR SARALA
OF HIGHLY ACCLAIMED CLASSIC ,
“WATER” WILL COME TO U.S. IN APRIL FOR HOUSTON FESTIVAL
By Walter Jayawardhana
“Sarala, the bubbly and mischievous child widow Chuliya in Deepa
Mehta's Water” will be in the United States when the classic
Canadian Indian film that was filmed in Sri Lanka is entering the
Houston International film festival in April, the Hindustan Times
reported.
Indo-Canadian writer-director Deepa Mehta's 'Water', a highly acclaimed
story about the plight of Hindu widows in 1930s, failed to win the
best foreign film Oscar losing out to Germany's 'The Lives of Others'.
Water Sarala with her older friend
The 11-year-old Sri Lankan child star's father, Sarath
Kariyawasam told the Colombo correspondent of Hindustan Times that
his daughter will be going to the Houston festival somehow. He is
also sure the film that made her daughter very famous would bag an
award this time though it failed at the Oscars.
"Sarala will be there," he told Hindustan Times emphatically,
when asked if she and her family were disappointed that they could
not attend the Oscar.
Water Seema Biswas with Sarala
The family did not go because director Deepa Mehta could not wangle
an invitation for her, he said.
" Deepa loves Sarala. She calls her every month and sends books
and posters," he said.
Salara, now 11, and in Grade 7 in a Sinhala medium school in the southern
Sri Lankan town of Galle, was only 8 when she donned the white sari
of an Indian widow and shaved the hair on her head for Water in 2004,
the Hindustan Times said.
“Her mother, homemaker Bhawani, was initially against her acting
in the film or any film for that matter. But she relented when Sarala
showed a child-like enthusiasm.
Father Sarath, who works in an American oil company in Saudi Arabia,
also fell in line.
Bhawani said she was unhappy when Deepa told her that widows in India
shaved their heads and that her daughter had to go in for a tonsure.
But she gave in, again because of Sarala's enthusiasm to be in the
film.
Deepa mehta -Director of Water
"I told Sarala she can't do that. But she replied: It's my
hair!" Bhawani told HumanityAshore.com in a recent interview.
And that was how the impish Sarala came to do the role in this classic
in celluloid. The film bug has clearly bitten Sarala. She wants to
be a doctor, but while acting in films,” The Hindustan Times
report further said.
The industry newspaper The Hollywood Reporter mentioning about the
film’s lush scenic beauty wrote: “The film itself was shut
down by Hindu fanatics, who in 2000 rioted and destroyed sets in Benares.
Water seema biswas with Sarala in Toront
Production resumed several years later in Sri Lanka. Re-creating
her story in that lush setting, Mehta and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens
light and create images of startling beauty. Indeed the calm magnificence
and spirituality of the landscape make a violent contrast to the oppression
these widows in white saris suffer and the complacency of a society
soon to be torn apart first by Gandhi and then by Partition.”
The Hindu extremist group Parivar Sangh rioted against the film
that delayed it about five years when Mehta filmed the story using
sets built at the edge of Bolgoda Lake. That’s how Sarala had
an oppportunity to become the child star of the movie.
Ron Ahluwalia writing in Planet Bollywood website said: “Sarala
is the best part of Water. She´s cute, energetic and the perfect
choice for the role. In real life, Sarala cannot speak a word of Hindi.
Her work in Water is the complete memorization of lines and their
phonetic regurgitation. This makes her performance even more profound.
What an amazing actress!”
Award winning co-actress of Water, Seema Biswas told Calcutta’s
Telegraph on Sarala: “Oh, Sarala is a very talented girl! She
is a born artiste. She learnt Hindi and English in just a few weeks.
She used to behave like a star on the sets (laughs). I am sure she
will grow up to be a professional actress. Water was a wonderful experience
for her and everyone on the sets with her.”
water2-Sarala eight year old Chuiya play
