Margarita with a Straw
Margarita with a Straw | |
---|---|
Viacom18 Motion Pictures Ishan Talkies | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes[1] |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Budget | ₹65 million[2] |
Box office | ₹74 million[2] |
Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian
.Bose conceived the idea for the film in January 2011 during a conversation with
Bose was keen to cast an actress with cerebral palsy for the central part, but eventually hired Koechlin, who learnt the movements and speech patterns of people with the disorder. Filming took place in Delhi and New York in 2013, with Anne Misawa as the
Margarita with a Straw premiered at the
Plot
Laila Kapoor is a teenager with
Laila meets an attractive young man named Jared, who is assigned to help her in the creative writing class. She also meets a young activist, Khanum, a blind girl of Pakistani-Bangladeshi descent, with whom she falls in love. Laila is enamoured by Khanum's fiercely independent personality and her positive perspective towards her own disability. The two spend most of their time together, filling in as each other's caregivers. Laila becomes confused about her sexual orientation, as she is attracted to men (Jared in particular) while being in a serious relationship with Khanum. She has sex with Jared, only to regret it immediately. Laila does not tell Khanum about this encounter. Oblivious to her daughter's relationship with Khanum, Laila's mother invites Khanum to Delhi to spend the summer vacation with Laila's family.
Laila ultimately finds the courage to
Cast
Credits adapted from Rotten Tomatoes.[3]
- Kalki Koechlin as Laila Kapoor
- Revathi as Shubhangini Kapoor
- Sayani Gupta as Khanum
- Kuljeet Singh as Laila's father
- Hussain Dalal as Dhruv
- William Moseley as Jared
- Malhar Khushu as Monu
- Tenzin Dalha as Nima
- Shuchi Dwivedi as Sameera
- Doug Plaut as Rob
- Jennifer Silverstein as Nancy
- Marco Torriani as Charles
Production
Development
"Khanum is so striking, just such a fantastic character. And there was this really boring, British boy who lived in America. When I owned the character, writing from being Laila myself, Laila was like 'Are you kidding me? This is the more interesting person ...' But I didn't do it consciously thinking, Laila just fell in love with Khanum and it happened organically, not from me wanting to deal with this issue."
— Bose on Laila's
Bose later adapted the original draft into a feature film-length script for Margarita with a Straw with co-writer Nilesh Maniyar. In 2012 the script won the Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award.[4] As part of the prize, the duo were awarded mentorships from the Sundance Institute's staff and creative advisors, and participated in a Feature Film Program Lab, which is where Bose decided to modify the story.[7] After being told by the advisory board that she was "not in the skin of the character", Bose decided to rewrite the script from her own perspective, instead of solely trying to incorporate Chib's point of view. She said that only after winning the award did she incorporate (unconsciously) her experiences as a bisexual woman in India. Bose and Maniyar worked for two years on the script as it went through more than forty revisions before becoming the final screenplay.[4]
Casting
Bose originally intended to cast actors with the same disabilities as the characters of Laila and Khanum. Since there were no actresses with cerebral palsy in India, she held auditions for the role in institutions that catered to patients, but could not find a suitable person to play the central role. Bose also had a meeting with a blind actress in her early thirties to discuss the role of Khanum, a character she associated herself with. The actress refused to pursue the role, being uncomfortable with the sexual content of the script. She nevertheless helped Bose by assisting Sayani Gupta, who was eventually cast as Khanum.[6]
Having decided to cast a professional for the part of Laila, Bose approached Kalki Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice" for the role.
Maniyar, who also served as the casting director for the film, contacted Gupta for the role of Khanum while she was working on the travel show Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan. Immediately drawn to the character, Gupta agreed to audition and was cast for the role after a lengthy selection process that lasted about a month.[16] She said in a later interview that she had felt fortunate to have bagged the character of Khanum.[17] To prepare for the role, Gupta stayed blindfolded while doing daily activities such as cooking and bathing and spent time with a special voice and accent trainer. She also attended classes at the National Association for the Blind, where she learned basic braille.[18] Revathi, who had previously played a mother to a young child with cerebral palsy in Anjali (1990), agreed to play Laila's mother after reading the script.[19] William Moseley was cast as Jared, a British student in Laila's class.[17]
Filming and post-production
Set in the neighbourhood of Greenwich Village, the second half of Margarita with a Straw was shot during the summer in New York.
Margarita with a Straw was selected for the
Soundtrack
Music director and singer Mikey McCleary composed the soundtrack for Margarita with a Straw, with Joi Barua serving as the guest composer for both versions of the song "Dusokute". The lyrics for the album were written primarily by Prasoon Joshi, except for the tracks "I Need a Man" and "Don't Go Running Off Anytime Soon", the latter featuring English lyrics written by McCleary. Artists such as Sharmistha Chatterjee, Sonu Kakkar, Anushka Manchanda, Rachel Varghese, Vivienne Pocha, and Rajnigandha Shekhawat provided vocals for the album on various tracks.[28] The first track to be released, the soft rock number "Dusokute", was originally composed by Barua in Assamese and was rewritten in Hindi by Joshi.[29] In April 2015 the complete soundtrack was released under the Zee Music Company label.[28]
Release
Margarita with a Straw premiered worldwide at the
After garnering acclaim at the international film festival circuit, the producers of Margarita with a Straw sent it straight to the Central Board of Film Certification. The decision to not send it to any of the major Indian film festivals was looked upon by commentators such as Uma Da Cunha, editor for Film India Worldwide, as a part of a marketing strategy. Srinivasan Narayan, organiser of the Mumbai International Film Festival, said that while Indian film festivals have grown they have not yet reached a level where they can compete for international premieres.[40] Instead, Margarita with a Straw had pre-released screenings for members of the Indian film industry in Mumbai. Along with the cast and crew of the production, these showings were variously attended by Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Vidya Balan, Anurag Kashyap, and Shraddha Kapoor. The film was positively received at the time; Bollywood personalities including Khan and Hrithik Roshan hosted separate special screenings for the film.[41][42][43]
Ahead of its commercial release, the crew organised several promotional events.[44] In an interview with the Indo-Asian News Service Koechlin talked about the importance of marketing for an independent film, saying that although the content of the films is becoming better, Bollywood remains an industry largely driven by box office gains.[45] Bose wanted the film to be marketed as a commercial one despite its art house appeal; she was not very keen on sending it to film festivals and later asked the producers to avoid mentioning the accolades at any of the promotional events.[46] The official trailer was released on 4 March 2015 on Viacom18 Motion Pictures' official YouTube channel.[47] First look posters featuring Koechlin sipping margaritas using a drinking straw were also unveiled on the same day. The film was released theatrically in India on 17 April 2015.[48] It is available on Netflix.[49]
Reception
Critical reception
Margarita with a Straw received positive reviews,
Koechlin's performance as Laila drew a lot attention from film critics,
Observers also praised the film's technical aspects, while ascribing its appeal to its script, which was "emotionally arresting and startlingly revelatory"[55] and "straight from the heart".[67] Bose's direction was praised for its restraint and its "luminous austerity"[53] and the "expert use of emotions and moments".[68] Many also highlighted the cinematography and commended Misawa for her "judicious work"[67] and "charming frames lit up with an almost dream-like, soft light".[52]
Commentators such as Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters and Mihir Fadnavis of Firstpost were critical of the change of tone and hurried narrative in the film's second half.[69][70] Although the latter was pleased by the film's first half, he thought that after a "glorious, powerful beginning, Bose fails to figure out a proper resolution."[70] Devesh Sharma was critical of the film's scattered plot in his review for Filmfare. He wrote that it "skips and jumps from one plot point to the other", leaving the viewer unsatisfied.[71] Jamkhandikar similarly noted that Bose introduced "too many contrivances and conflicts" in the narrative.[69]
Box office
Margarita with a Straw released in India on about 250 screens.
Accolades
Bose won the
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External links
- Margarita with a Straw at IMDb
- Margarita with a Straw at Metacritic
- Margarita with a Straw at Frameline