Richie Mehta: Exclusive interview with Canada-based filmmaker of AMAL

'Amal' by Richie Mehta could become Canada's official entry for the Best Foreign Film category at the next Oscars, according to media reports. 'Amal' has also become the most talked about film of the year with an Indian theme.

After winning the Best Independent Film of the latest Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 'Amal' took the grand jury prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Earlier, it won the Audience Award for best narrative at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival this year.

Mehta talks about his film and the decline of great Indian cinema: "Until the major filmmakers and movie stars in India decide to really invest the time and energy into their scripts and develop the projects properly -- this would mean spending years on scripts, overhauling them and passing them through the logic wringer yet still retaining the emotional core -- it won't happen," says Mehta in an exclusive interview with Pervaiz Alam

Note by Kavita: By mistake I posted it earlier in the environment category. It's a long interview...so I'm adding another quote from Mehta. The woman in picture is actress Koel Purie from film "Amal".

PA: Reports suggest 'Amal' could be a good choice as
Canada's official entry for the 'Best Foreign Film' category at the
Oscars. Has there been any development recently?

RM: We would of course be honoured to have 'Amal' represent
Canada’s 'best foreign film’. However, the submission comes from a
special committee of industry peers in Canada, and I am sure they will
have a lot of strong Canadian films to consider. So who knows! One can
hope.

PA: Did you anticipate the kind of adulation your film has received so far?

RM: Not at all! I wasn't sure the film even made any sense. This was my first feature, so I was going on instinct all the way.