Why Mira Nair Compressed ‘A Suitable Boy’ Into Just 6 Episodes
Mira Nair says that her own family has criticised the English accent in her series ‘A Suitable Boy’
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As the Toronto International Film Festival for the very first time goes virtual, we speak to filmmaker Mira Nair whose series A Suitable Boy, an adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel, is screening at the fest. The film starring Tabu, Ishaan Khattar and Tanya Maniktala among others is a period story set in post-independent India of the 1950s. The story revolves around a free spirited woman named Lata whose mother is looking for a suitable boy for her to get married. A Suitable Boy has all the elements of drama, romance, tragedy, violence and more to make it an engaging watch.
Talking about the making of A Suitable Boy, Mira Nair tells The Quint,
The humongous 1500-page book is one of the longest novels ever published. The filmmaker talks about the challenges of compressing it into a 6 episode series.
The series is mostly in English with a bit of spoken Hindi and Bengali. People have been criticising the language chosen and the odd accent in which the actors speak. Nair confesses that even her own family has criticised this aspect but also reiterates that she and her team worked hard to get the accents right.
Mira Nair, who has worked with Tabu in The Namesake, talks about the actor fondly and refers to her as a big sister, who she loves working with. "As I grow older, I don't want hassles. I want to work with people I love and enjoy," Nair comments.
Watch the entire chat with Mira Nair here.
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