ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Anupam Kher

Hotel Mumbai: Abandoned By God

In Hotel Mumbai, terror hold the heart of India in its grip as members of Lashkar-e-Taiba co-ordinate a series of attacks on the city, culminating in their occupation of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. In the midst of the chaos, a brave chef (Anupam Kher) and kitchen worker (Dev Patel) risk their lives in order to protect the hotel patrons. As terror grips the hotel, a desperate couple (Armie Hammer and Nazanin Boniadi) fight to save themselves and their child from their attackers.

Directed by Anthony Maras, Hotel Mumbai?is based on the real-life terrorist attacks that took place in India in 2008. Playing out more as a dramatic thriller than character piece, Mumbai?is a sobering film that bears even more weight in light of the recent events of Christchurch, NZ. In this regard, Mumbai?features solid performances from leads Dev Patel (who continues to impress as he grows as an actor), Hammer and Jason Isaacs. Still, it?s star Boniadi who steals the film, playing a Muslim mother with strength and ferocity.

Based on the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai, Maras? primary interest is to throw the viewer into the moment. While there are some who would argue that the film lacks character development, his emphasis simply is focused upon the weight of the tragedy itself. In this moment, all victims are equal, regardless of race or social status. In light of this, there is a power to the film that showcases the horror of modern terrorism and the value of everyone affected by it.

In the midst of the tragedy, however, one of the most interesting motifs is Maras? conversations about the nature of God. Throughout the film, God remains at the forefront of people?s minds, to various degrees of certainty. Interestingly, whereas one might expect that these circumstances may cause them to cry out to the Divine, instead the hotel patrons wrestle with the fact that these moments are proof that there is no God. By contrast, however, in the midst of their attacks, terrorists proclaim their violence in the name of God.

By holding these two differing views up against one another, Maras creates a world where the Divine leads directly to darkness. In Hotel Mumbai, God calls others to create chaos and fear in His name while those who follow are those who destroy. (Is it any wonder that those who fear for their lives would feel abandoned?) With this in mind, the film is a bold statement for a culture that is wrestling with the roots of evil in light of terrifying tragedy. After all, in the absence of light, what can we look to in order to break the darkness?

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As a gripping thriller, Hotel Mumbai?delivers in just about every way. Though graphic at times, the film is haunting and powerful with strong performances from its entire case. However, the most terrifying aspect of the film is the reality of evil that continues to haunt our world.

Hotel Mumbai is in theatres now.

To hear our interview with actor Anupam Kher, click here.

 

1on1 with Anupam Kher (HOTEL MUMBAI)

In this 1on1, Julie Levac comes to you live from the red carpet of the Toronto premiere of Hotel Mumbai on March 20, 2019. Hear star Anupam Kher tell her why Hotel Mumbai is one of the most important films of our time.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic, Spotify or on your Alexa device via. Stitcher! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or more!

Hotel Mumbai – Sacrifices for God

What is a worthy sacrifice to make for one?s gods? Does that sound like a basis for a action thriller? It turns out to be a very important part of Hotel Mumbai, the feature debut of director Anthony Maras. Based on the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai that created three days of chaos in that city, the film focuses on the assault on the famed Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which was one of a dozen targets of the attack.

The Taj is a very upscale hotel, where guests are pampered, especially the VIP guests. That could entail drawing a bath to precisely 47? C, or making sure that a guest?s call girls for the evening are waiting in his room by the time he finishes dinner. As Chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) reminds his kitchen and wait staff at the start of their shift, ?The guest is god.?

(From L to R) Armie Hammer as ?David?, Tilda Cobham-Hervey as ?Sally? and Nazanin Boniadi as ?Zahra? in director?s Anthony Maras? HOTEL MUMBAI, a Bleecker Street release. Credit: Kerry Monteen / Bleecker Street

The story revolves around groups within the hotel: the staff, including Oberoi and a young Sikh waiter, Arjun (Dev Patel); the hotel guests, including David (Armie Hammer) and Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi) who are there with their infant child and its nanny Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), and Vasili, a Russian millionaire (Jason Isaacs); and the Pakistani gunmen (Amandeep Singh, Suhail Nayyar, and Manoj Mehra). When the attack begins in a train station, the chaos of the city seems far removed from the peacefulness within the Taj. Indeed, many people run to the Taj to seek safety. But soon gunmen are inside the hotel, randomly killing whoever they come across, and eventually going room to room hunting more victims. As the battle engulfs the hotel, David and Zahra are frantic to know Sally and the baby are safe, but how can they go to get them?

The hotel staff do all they can to provide safety to the guests, eventually taking them a back way to a private club, the most secure place in the hotel. Although some of the staff have escaped to return to their own families, many remain because of the mantra ?the guest is god.? The killing continues, the staff keeps acting nobly, the parents and Sally do all they can to try to protect and save the child. The tension is well developed as the story progresses.

But we also get time to know these gunmen who are terrorizing the hotel. They are more than one-dimensional monsters that we might expect. They have been radicalized and trained for this mission, but the more we get to know them, the more human they become. They are following the orders of their leader over the phone, but in time, they begin to question the brutality of what they are doing.

We also learn that a key part of their motivation is that their families are to get money. Just as the waiter Arjun is from a poor family and is trying to provide for his wife and children, these gunmen are doing what they feel they must to provide for their families. That similarity grows through the film.

The other important comparison between the staff and the terrorists is that they see what they are doing as acting on behalf of their gods. ?The guest is god? takes on a deeper meaning when we see that the staff is willing to sacrifice themselves in order to protect the guests. For Arjun, it becomes very personal when one of the guests is afraid of him because he wears a turban (a part of the Sikh religious practice), he calmly explains its deep importance it holds, but offers to remove it because she is his guest. While the staff is serving their guests/gods, the terrorists are being told over and over by their leader (who is in constant contact by phone) of the reward their God has waiting for them.

Dev Patel stars as ?Arjun? in director Anthony Maras? HOTEL MUMBAI, a Bleecker Street release. Credit: Kerry Monteen / Bleecker Street

But if both the hotel staff and the gunmen are acting out of their commitment to their gods?even to the point of giving their lives, does that make them equivalent? Certainly not. But we are called on to understand how they differ and which group is offering up a sacrifice that is worthy of their devotion.

People of faith often speak of the ways we serve our gods. How do we judge that service? Is it how intense we are in our actions? Or is it seen not in ourselves but the way our service brings our gods? love and compassion to the world we have been sent to serve? It is in this way that we can see the value of those in the film who are serving their gods in different ways.

Photos courtesy of Bleecker Street

 

The Big Sick – All The Feels

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Recently, Steve Norton and I were lucky enough to attend an advance screening of The Big Sick in Toronto, which had two surprise guests ? Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon!

This film had already been released in select cities in the States at the time of the advance screening, and will have a?wide release?this weekend.? This particular independent film just keeps expanding, and it?s not difficult to see why.

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Based on the true story of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, The Big Sick gives us a?glimpse into how they met, their cultural differences and the life altering experience they went through. ?Written by Nanjiani and Gordon themselves, this film was directed by Michael Showalter and produced by Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel. ?Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, the film next won the Audience Award: Festival Favourites at South by Southwest in March.

If you?re unfamiliar with Kumail Nanjiani, he is a stand-up comedian and actor.? He?s currently on the HBO comedy series, Silicon Valley.

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This movie has a fantastic cast. ?Each actor captured the essence of their character extremely well.? Zoe Kazan plays Kumail?s girlfriend, Emily Gordon.? Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are cast as Emily?s parents; and Zenobia Shroff and Anupam Kher as Kumail?s parents.

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Fun fact: We found out at the Q&A that Kumail asked his father in real life who he wanted to play him in the movie.? He said Anupam Kher, who is a big Hindi film star.? They didn?t think it was possible but asked anyway. ?Anupam said yes!? And this was his 500th movie! ?(Incidentally, the film legend was also in the American film, Silver Linings Playbook).

The Big Sick takes us on Kumail and Emily?s journey of courtship, including navigating their cultural differences and what their parents expect of them.? During a rocky period in their relationship (in fact, they were broken up at the time), Emily fell ill with a very serious infection.? The doctors needed to put Emily into a medically induced coma and had to operate to remove the infection. ?Emily was in a coma for 8 days.? She was diagnosed with adult-onset Still?s disease which is a rare form of inflammatory arthritis that can seriously affect your organs, if left untreated.

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While Emily was in a coma, Kumail was at the hospital constantly, anxiously awaiting news of her condition and hoping she would be able to wake up soon.? During this time, Kumail had many interactions with Emily?s parents, who were not his biggest fans.? But as time went on, they got to know each other better and they realized that Kumail was in love with Emily and had nothing but the best of intentions.

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Simultaneously, Kumail?s parents, who are devoted Muslims, were trying to arrange for a Pakistani woman that Kumail could marry.? On every visit to his parent?s house, Kumail had to meet a new woman.? He was also expected to pray to Allah.? This presented a huge conflict for Kumail as he was in love with Emily and his parents didn?t even know it.? He was also struggling with his faith and trying to figure out what he believed.

This movie raises so many intense topics. ?While they were very honest about these subjects, they were also very respectful.? During the Q&A we attended, Kumail spoke about the effort that was made to cover the different perspectives without making it seem like one perspective was right or?wrong.? I found it to be very inclusive of different points of view.

One of the first themes I picked up on was traditionalism.? Kumail and his family are from Pakistan and he was raised Muslim.? He was expected to pray daily and have his marriage arranged by his parents.? His brother?s marriage was arranged and Kumail received encouragement from him to follow the Muslim traditions.? Kumail lived a fairly western life in that he did not wear traditional clothing, he dated non-Muslim women and he chose an unconventional career ? stand-up comedy.

I also noticed some stereotypes.? For a good portion of the movie, Kumail?s family appear to portray a stereotypical Muslim family and they?re almost made to be a joke (which is not unexpected given that at the core, this is a comedy film).? But there is a scene where Kumail confronts his parents with his truth and we finally get to see a more serious side of them.? We get a sense of their struggle and what they had to go through to give their children a good life.? Kumail?s mother said she hadn?t seen, I believe, her mother in over a decade.? And his father had to completely retrain in his occupational field when he came to America.

Kumail?s confrontation to his parents was largely about his faith, or lack thereof.? He admitted that he hadn?t been praying.? He would go to the basement and play video games during prayer time.? He admitted that he did not want an arranged marriage and, in fact, had been dating an American. ?He told his parents that he needed to figure out what he believed on his own.

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Another aspect was that Kumail was often judged based on the way he looks.? In the film,?he’s heckled on stage with racial slurs telling him to ?go back to ISIS?.? Although Kumail says this particular scene didn?t happen in real life, he has actually been racially heckled on numerous occasions.

Lastly, there is a large theme of family in this film.? There is a striking scene close to the end of the movie which happens after Kumail confronted his parents and had been kicked out of the family.? Here, he returns to his parents house and tries to pretend everything was the same as it used to be by talking about how he refused to be kicked out of the family. (After all, no matter what, ‘they?ll always be family’.) ?He promises to never give up on them and refuses to let their differences ruin their relationship. ?For Kumail, his family matters, despite the tensions and differences that lie between them.

We also see a different family dynamic in how Emily?s parents stuck by her every second while she was in the hospital and at home recovering.? They were very protective over her when Kumail came around as they believed he was no good for Emily.? And then when they realized that Kumail was the right mate for her, they tried to encourage that relationship.

I experienced so many emotions while watching this movie.? It was genuinely funny–and not all of the funny scenes were in the trailer which is unfortunately what happens a lot these days. ?(I even almost cried a few times.)

Bottom line ? it?s a great movie.? It?s witty, smart, and eye opening.? I would highly recommend it.