The moving film Lucky opens on the South African circuit on Friday 20 July 2012. See the review by Fareed Chaithoo at (http://www.lenzinfo.co.za/?p=8459) for his view on the moral or social messages that the film brings across in an entertaining format rather than preaching or moralising. .
Lenzinfo’s Fakir Hassen got an exclusive interview with celebrated Indian stage actress Jayashree Basavaraj, who plays a South African Indian grandmother whose prejudices and in act entire life is changed forever through an encounter with a young African boy.
FH: The character that you play appears to be very true to life in a South African apartheid legacy context. Did you make any special arrangements or research to delve into the psyche of such a racist Indian old woman?
JB: Yes, as an actress, my primary aim is to do justice to the character I was playing. I never felt the need to prepare myself specially because the script was so strong and the dialogues and the silence in between was sufficient to bring out the character. The more I read, more I felt the anguish, pain, fear and the loneliness. In spite of belonging to the different race and alienated from the locals, the determination of Padma to live and lead a life in South Africa gave me an in-depth understanding of Padma. Hence I did no research or any special preparation.
FH: Playing the role must have also given you some insight into what apartheid South Africa must have been like? What are your impressions of that? Did the role change you as a person?
JB: Apartheid exists in different forms in different countries, the main thing it does to an individual / race is to alienate make one feel that he does not belong to that place. The director/scriptwriter has expressed it in one sentence “Padma questions, rainbow country, where is the black brown and white colour in the rainbow? Yes the character troubled me, I use to take some time to come out of it after every shoot.
FH: Did you meet local Indians during the shooting and if so how did they take to your role, especially if they were from the older generation?
JB: No. I did not meet any local Indians who were from the older generation, but I met a lot of young Indian boys and girls who acted in the movie but they were excited to be part of the film but never thought of Padma.
FH: Do you think the film will play a role as an eye-opener to many Indian South Africans who still have underlying prejudices culturally, albeit unspoken?
JB: In my opinion YES the character Padma and her emotions like agony, affliction, anger, fear of solitude, finding comfort in that loneliness, are universal that everyone go through irrespective of race , religion and culture. The film definitely projects strongly the humane aspect which will touch the underlying prejudices .
FH: In general, what is your own impression of South Africa shaped during your time here?
JB:I saw people sitting on the roadside, looking for work and could see despair in many of their faces. Somewhere I could sense that these people never got love, respect they deserved in the society.
FH: What was the transition from stage to a main role in a film like?
For me acting in the film is not new to me but the main role is new. I have played supporting roles in many regional films. Though it was different I took the transition like a fish to the water.
