The Week India - July 29, 2018

JULY 29, 2018 • THE WEEK 93

BY JOSE K. GEORGE

A

middle-aged man (Hector) sees

a naked woman in the woods

near his house and sets out to

have a better look. As he goes closer,

Hector realises that the woman is

dead, and he comes under attack

by a knife-wielding maniac with a

blood-soaked, bandaged face. He is

chased into a nearby research lab

where a scientist off ers him a place

to hide. Soon, Hector fi nds himself in

a situation that he is no longer able to

control or comprehend, and is forced

to subject himself to the whims of the

scientist.

Timecrimes begins as your average

slasher fl ick, but soon shifts gears

and turns into an unpredictable

science fi ction noir with elements

of time travel with its worst possible

risks—of you running into other

versions of yourself. In Hector’s case,

his other versions are only a few

hours apart.

Directed by Nacho Vigalondo,

Timecrimes is an ambitious fi lm

that off ers several intelligent twists,

surprises and puzzles that may be

lost on you if you do not pay close

attention to the one too many

layers that the director weaves in so

convincingly. The fi lm, which won

the Asteroide award for the best

international sci-fi feature fi lm, will

leave you amused and a tad confused.

On a loop

WORLD

CINEMA’S

FINEST

Timecrimes

(2007, Spanish)

go to an arts college. She graduated

in theatre from Beloit College, US,

and did her masters in fi ne arts

from the University of Tennessee.

A fourth generation Iranian

living in India, she realised on a

teacher’s suggestion that she could

draw inspiration from both the

cultures. She took up bharatnat-

yam classes; and, while on a visit to

Iran, she realised how well politics

is built into the scripts of Iranian

plays. She acted in many plays that

included playing a clown in Rajat

Kapoor’s I Don’t Like It, As You

Like It, for which she won a META

for best actor in a supporting role

(female).

“In college, I majored in acting

and directing, and we had to direct

our own plays,” says Jalali, who was

not very keen on directing initially.

“Once I came back to India, I was

working more as an actor, but then

I enjoyed working with students,

and, so, I started directing school

plays. I also started doing plays as

part of the Rage Th eatre’s Writer’s

Bloc—one, Dreamcatcher, was

co-directed with Trishla Patel, and

one was solo. It happened organ-

ically because I am a very visual

person.” It was during the third

edition of Writer’s Bloc that Jalali

did Jaal, based on a story written

by Annie Zaidi.

She laughs when I call theatre

an industry. “If you are doing a big

play, for instance the Disney musi-

cals or Mughal-e-Azam, there is no

doubt that people will come and

put money into that,” says Jalali.

“But for small experimental groups,

you have to work for a long time.

I have been in the industry for 20

years, but it is only in the past three

to four years that my work is being

recognised for what it is.”

As far as the awards are con-

cerned, she says it is a happy

feeling. But, she does not take it too

seriously. “It is fl eeting, just like a

show,” she says.

rehearsal. For Shikhandi, it was
almost eight months—six months of
training, and it took three months to
put the play together. Th e same pro-
cess was followed with 07/07/07.”
Th ere is no background of theatre
in Jalali’s family—her four sisters
have a science background, and her
brother is in fi nance. At one point,
since she was good in physics, she
wanted to be a physicist; at another, a
dentist. But, she never wanted to give
up theatre. She was introduced to
theatre while studying at the JB Petit
High School for Girls in Mumbai.
“[Actor] Pearl Padamsee used to
direct our school plays and we would
have proper festival of plays,” says
Jalali. Because of this exposure early
on, she picked up interest in theatre
and feminism. Th e school principal
then, Shirin Darasha, known for her
zeal for drama and arts, was a femi-
nist. Darasha had a strong infl uence
on Jalali. Th ankfully, her parents
were supportive when she wanted to

PLAYING IT RIGHT: Faezeh

Jalali, whose plays have been

receiving rave reviews across

the country

AMEY MANSABDAR