How Life Becomes Art with Sooni Taraporevala (LIVE AT IFP SEASON 16)
Mourning Mumbai's Rapid Redevelopment and Loss
Growing up in Bombay where Parsis have no ancestral village to return to, Taraporevala experiences the city as layers of intimate personal memory. Looking back at her 1970s photographs amidst Mumbai's current redevelopment wave fills her with sadness and helplessness. She recalls an old building on Princess Street with Shiv Sena graffiti that was demolished before she could photograph its destruction.
Taraporevala on Translating Books to Screen
Having been an obsessive reader and literature student before becoming a filmmaker, Taraporevala approaches screenplay adaptations with a duty to convey as much of the original book as possible. Rather than stamping her own ego onto great novels, she tries to serve as the author's translation into another medium while making necessary structural changes. She notes that Jhumpa Lahiri was very happy with The Namesake and Rohinton Mistry was pleased with Such a Long Journey.
Directing at 50 and Creative Routine vs Inspiration
After decades in solitary crafts because she thought she lacked a hustler's personality, Taraporevala directed her first film at age 50 as a birthday gift to herself and loved leading a 100-person crew. She describes directing as an exhilarating speeding train focused on interpersonal relationships, welcoming actor improvisation, and creatively solving set accidents.
Learning Caste Realities for Dr. Ambedkar Biopic
When NFDC's Ravi Gupta asked her in Los Angeles to write the screenplay on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Taraporevala initially questioned the choice because as a Parsi she knew only the basics of caste. Returning to India, she collaborated with writers Arun Sadhu and eminent Dalit author Daya Pawar, who shared his personal journey and introduced her to Dalit figures alongside Ambedkar's voluminous writings.
How Raghubir Singh Sparked the Parsi Photo Book
Taraporevala explains that her Parsi photography began when she took a leave of absence from college in America due to homesickness and photographed elderly relatives in Bombay to preserve them against death. In 1982, renowned photographer Raghubir Singh saw her images, encouraged her to make a book because of her insider access, and helped her secure rolls of now-extinct Kodachrome film from National Geographic.
Why Technological Friction Is Not Needed for Art
Responding to audience members who argue that analog limitations and technological friction foster deeper creativity than effortless digital tools, Taraporevala explains that carrying two bodies for color and black-and-white with fixed ISO settings was restrictive, making digital a true liberation. Having lived through analog friction, she does not miss it and still hasn't used a roll of slide film gifted by her digitizing lab, Zen-Y Lab.
