The News on Sunday: You’ve been coming back to Lahore in recent times. How do you associate with the city?

Nandita Das: Well, on many levels. Broadly, I’ve been coming back because of some kind of a South Asian collaboration or initiative. The first time I came to Pakistan, which was to Lahore, it was as part of the South Asians for Human Rights, in 1996. I’ve been in Karachi for Ramchand Pakistani, twice for KaraFilm twice and also for a Muzaffar Ali programme on Rumi. It had Abida Perveen singing and me reciting the English translations of some of Rumi’s poems.

On a personal level, it’s always such a pleasure coming to Pakistan. I’ve made many friends here.

TNS: We haven’t seen a lot of you lately on cinema, why?

ND: Well, I had a son who has kept me busy for the last more than three years now. Besides, I was the chairperson of the Children’s Film Society which involves a lot of work. Last year, I wrote, directed and acted in a theatre play, called Between the Lines. It’s about gender inequality in relationships in the so-called educated, progressive classes.

TNS: You haven’t performed it in Pakistan, have you?

ND: No, but I hope to do so sometime soon. Actually, I am not so well connected with the sponsors etc., and this kind of a play needs sponsorship. Let’s hope my next trip would be with that.

TNS: Was it your first time writing for theatre?

ND: Yes, it was. But I also write a monthly column for The Week. I write on anything but it invariably becomes something about some social issue. That’s the only space I have since I am not on social media and I don’t seem to have time for it.

As a working woman and a mother I was juggling so many things that the play, in a way, reflects my own life and that of many other women who are working and juggling various roles.

TNS: Does writing come naturally to you?

ND: Well, everything in my life has happened by default. I became a writer by default. I wouldn’t call myself a writer, though. In the same way, I don’t think of myself as a director. Even acting-wise, I’ve never gone to an acting school.

TNS: Is a ‘serious’ actor and film maker like you essentially an activist?

ND: Well, I’ve done my Masters in Social Work. I was already working with different human rights NGOs when I started acting. Most people become celebrities and then they use that space to raise voice for different social concerns. In my case, it was the other way round. So, automatically, my experiences in social sector impacted my choices in films. I was instinctively drawn towards strong stories and interesting women characters.

Likewise for my first film [Firaaq]. It wasn’t as if I woke up one day and said to myself, ‘Oh, I want to be a director, so let me look for a story!’ After the Gujarat riots I was extremely disturbed about everything that was happening; there was so much prejudice and religion seemed to be used to divide people. I just felt compelled to tell the story. I must confess that as a first film it was a bit of a complex subject and wasn’t an easy shoot.

My talk here at the South Asia Conclave is on ‘Art for Social Change’. And, I am going to be speaking for cinema, music, theatre etc.

TNS: Art film actors like Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah made it big in mainstream cinema as well. Where, in your opinion, did you go wrong?

ND: A lot of people have asked me this. But I feel sab ko apne mann ka kaam karna chahiye. That is the biggest freedom you can have. Just because these actors did it, I don’t have to do it.

There are people who are able to compartmentalise what is for money, what is for the love of work, etc. I somehow don’t function that way. And, I don’t think I’d be a happy person if I did something purely for, say, fame or money.

TNS: What has been your most challenging work to date?

ND: Making Firaaq. Why, because here so many of my different interests and skills were coming together. I also had a tough time convincing the producers to invest in the project. It was a struggle.

I’ve always maintained that making a film is like giving birth. In that sense, Firaaq was my first baby, even before my son Rehan was born.

TNS: What are the projects you are currently occupied with?

ND: I’m doing a Spanish film called Traces of Sandalwood. It has a woman director named Maria Ripoll, a woman producer, a woman editor and a woman cinematographer. Maria has earlier directed Penelope Cruz also.

I play an Indian actress in the film and, for the first time, I’ll be doing song and dance stuff as part of my work. Saroj Khan is choreographing the songs.

TNS: Is it a tough call?

ND: Honestly speaking, yes. When I was contacted for the role, I told them this was wrong casting, because Indian Bollywood actresses are not so dark and not so old. They are usually in their twenties and fair.

TNS: "Not so dark" is an interesting way to describe Bollywood heroines.

ND: Well, I am supporting this campaign called ‘Dark is Beautiful’ which has become huge in India. It’s about us South Asians’ obsession with fair skin. In India, 90 percent women are dark like me and they are all made to feel sort of not-worth-it or small. It really impacts self-esteem and confidence, especially in young girls.

The campaign has taken the form of a movement. We have people writing in from all over the world, validating the campaign and urging girls to be comfortable in their skin. We have also signed a petition against skin lightening products. Shah Rukh Khan has also been approached.

TNS: There was a time when the line between art and commercial cinema was clearly drawn. Today, even as the lines are blurring, do you feel the serious film makers are loath to make films?

ND: Economics interferes with art a lot, especially in India. Half the time if somebody makes a strong film, the producers don’t have the confidence to back the project. They are, like, ‘logon ko naach gaana chahiye!’

Secondly, serious film makers don’t get to market their films properly. When they don’t it, there’s no level-playing field. How do you compare with a film which has so much money gone into it? I remember when My Name Is Khan was up for release, Karan Johar told me that his official marketing budget was Rs10 crore. And I told him our total production budget was less than one-third of it.

In the absence of a level-playing field, how do you hope to compete? A lot of independent cinema suffers because of this aspect and there are less and less films that really push the boundaries or tell stories of the marginalised people.

TNS: Has the situation changed for the better with the arrival of the multiplexes?

ND: We thought it would be so, but the multiplexes are also interested in running the same mainstream movies.

TNS: Aren’t movies like Lunch Box making good because of these new-age cinemas?

ND: Well, Lunch Box was taken by Fox Studios. You have to pump in money for marketing.

TNS: How would you describe the cinema of India as it is today?

ND: Well, I wouldn’t like to describe it in one word. Firstly, Indian cinema is not Bollywood. Often people equate the two, which is wrong. Indian cinema is mainstream Hindi cinema, mainstream Tamil and Telugu cinemas and regional cinema which is much more independent and makes the least compromises.

I have done films in at least 10 different languages and some of those films are unknown to people not only in Pakistan but also in Delhi or Mumbai, because you don’t get to see them in the big cities. Subtitles ka culture nahin hai ziada.

But I must say that these films are much more powerful. I’ve been lucky to get some of the very powerful roles in Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Kerala films.

A shorter version of this interview appeared in the print issue of The News on Sunday, December 8th, 2013.