Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as Laila, a teenager with cerebral palsy who moves from New Delhi to Greenwich village for higher education and comes of age following her complex relationship with a blind girl, played by Sayani Gupta. Produced by Bose in partnership with Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, the film was co written by Bose and Nilesh Maniyar and deals with the themes of an inclusive environment, self-acceptance, and human sexuality. Margarita with a Straw had Revathi and William Moseley play supporting roles.
Bose had been working on the film's script since January 2011, having conceived the idea during a causal conversation with Malini Chib, her cousin and a disability rights activist, about the latter's desire to have a normal sex life. Bose wrote the first draft of the script with Chib serving as the basis for the central character. Although she won Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award for the initial draft, Bose later modified the script to reflect her own perspective, incorporating several of her personal experiences into the narrative. She completed the screenplay with co-writer Nilesh Maniyar and the advisory council of the Sundance Institute.
Pre production work began when Koechlin was cast in the role of Laila; she had auditioned actors with cerebral palsy for the role but was unable to come up with desirable results. Koechlin underwent a six month training programme to adapt to the physical movement and speech patterns of the people with cerebral palsy. Filming for the project took place in Delhi and New York in 2013; Anne Misawa worked as the director of photography. The film was selected for the National Film Development Corporation of India's Work in Progress Lab initiative during post production, which was completed in the latter half of 2013. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Mickey McCleary.
Margarita with a Straw had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival; it garnered positive reviews at such international film festivals as the Tallinn Black Nights, the BFI London, the Vesoul Festival of Asian Cinema, the Galway Film Fleadh, among others. The film released theatrically in India on April 17, 2015, to critical acclaim. Commentators praised most aspects of the production, with particular emphasis on Koechlin's performance and Bose's direction. The duo garnered several accolades including the Screen Award for Best Actress and the National Film Award (Jury) (both for Koechlin), and the NETPAC Award at Toronto (for Bose). The film did moderately well at the box office grossing over ₹74 million against a production budget of ₹65 million.
Plot
Laila (Koechlin) is a teenager with cerebral palsy, studying in the Delhi University. She is an aspiring writer and composes music for an indie band at the university. Laila develops feelings for the lead singer, but is heartbroken when she is rejected. She moves past the experience and is later overwhelmed on receiving a scholarship for a semester at the New York University. She moves to Greenwich village, Manhattan with her orthodox Maharashtrian mother Shubhangini (Revathi), despite her father's reservations.
Laila meets an attractive young man named Jared (Moseley), who is assigned to help her in the creative writing class. She also meets a young activist Khanum (Gupta), a blind girl of a Pakistani Bangladeshi descent, whom she later falls in love with. Laila is enamoured by Khanum's fiercely independent personality and her perspective towards her own disability. The two spend most of their time together, filling in as each other's caregivers. Laila develops a confusion about her sexual orientation as she is attracted to men, Jared in particular, while being in a serious relationship with Khanum. She has sex with Jared on one occasion, only to regret it immediately. However, she doesn't tell Khanum about it. Oblivious to her daughter's relationship with Khanum, Laila's mother invites her to Delhi to spend the winter vacation with the family.
Laila ultimately finds the courage to tell her mother about her sexuality and her relationship with Khanum, which her mother strongly disapproves of. She also tells Khanum that she had sex with Jared and asks for her forgiveness. However, having felt betrayed by Laila, Khanum breaks up with her and leaves for New York. Laila's mother is diagnosed with advanced colon cancer which has relapsed after previous treatments. Laila and her mother move pass their differences as the former tends to her while she is at the hospital. The two eventually reconcile shortly before Shubhangini's death. Laila plays a recorded speech at her funeral telling how much she loved her and how she was the only one who ever understood her. She is later seen enjoying an outdoor date, all by herself.
Cast
- Kalki Koechlin as Laila
- Revathi as Shubhangini Damle
- Sayani Gupta as Khanum
- Kuljeet Singh as Laila's father
- Hussain Dalal as Dhruv
- William Moseley as Jared
- Malhar Khushu as Monu
- Jacob Berger
- Tenzin Dalha
- Shuchi Dwivedi as Sameera
- Maninder Chauhan as Dhruv's mother
Production
Development and casting
Bose began working on the story in January 2011, on her son's seventeenth birthday, who had died a year ago. She worked on the first draft extensively for about a month. Although the main character of Laila is based on her cousin Malini Chib, a disability rights activist, the narrative follows closely Bose's own experience of losing a family member. She acknowledged the difficulty of incorporating her personal story into a screenplay for a feature film calling it a "tough emotional journey". The idea of working on a film about disability was conceived during a casual conversation between Bose and her aunt (Chib's mother), who wanted the former to work on a similar project aimed at creating awareness regarding the subject. Having grown up with Chib in the same household, she was familiar with the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. She was especially intrigued by the general ignorance exhibited towards the sexuality of people with disabilities, and therefore decided to incorporate the same into the narrative.
Bose later adapted the original draft into feature film-length script with co-writer Nilesh Maniyar. The script went on to win the Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award in 2012. As a part of the prize, the duo was awarded mentorship from the Sundance Institute staff and creative advisors, and participation in a Feature Film Program Lab, which is where Bose decided to modify the story. After being told by the advisory board that she was "not in the skin of the character", Bose decided to rewrite the script from her own perspective, as opposed to earlier when she was trying to incorporate Chib's point of view. She said that it was only after the winning the award that she incorporatedâ€"albeit unconsciously, her experiences as a bisexual woman in India into the narrative. Bose and Maniyar worked for two years on the script as it went through over forty revisions before materialising into the final screenplay.
Bose originally intended to cast actors with the same disabilities as the characters of Laila and Khanum, her blind lover. Since there were no actresses with cerebral palsy in India, she decided to audition for the role in institutions that catered to patients, but was unable to come up with desirable results. Bose also had a meeting with a blind actress in her early thirties to discuss the role of Khanum, a character she associated herself with. However, she was uncomfortable with the sexual content of the script and ultimately decided against pursuing the role. She helped Bose in training Sayani Gupta, who was eventually cast as Khanum.
When she first decided to cast a professional, Bose approached Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice" for the role. The latter was shooting for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Due to the clashing schedule, Bose went on to audition other actresses to substitute Koechlin, but felt that "something was missing" in each one. She eventually decided to push the filming for three months to accommodate her. Koechlin admitted to the role being the most challenging of her film career, and she took six months off her filming schedule to prepare for it. She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor Adil Hussain. The workshop aimed at making her "body language seem natural", while also focusing on the speech pattern of patients with cerebral palsy. Koechlin spent considerable time with Chib and her physiotherapist and speech therapist. She also attended a month-long workshop in Delhi, where she worked on the movement of the body parts. Although the film covers aspects of physical disability, Koechlin dubbed it "a romcom within some hurdles". Bose too described the film as a coming-of-age story about a "woman’s journey of finding love".
Maniyar, who also served as the casting director for the film contacted Gupta for the role of Khanum while she was working on the travel show Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan. Immediately drawn to the character, Gupta agreed to audition and was ultimately cast for the role after a lengthy selection process that lasted for about a month. She said in a later interview that she had felt fortunate to have bagged the character of Khanum. To prepare for the role, Gupta stayed blindfolded while doing daily activities as cooking and bathing. She also attended classes at the National Association for the Blind, learning basic braille and also spent time with a special voice and accent trainer. Revathi, who had previously played a mother to a young child with cerebral palsy in Mani Rathnam's Anjali (1990), agreed to play Laila's mother after reading the script. William Moseley was cast as Jared, a British student in Laila's class who develops a friendship with her.
Filming and post-production
Principal photography for Margarita with a Straw began in 2013 and took place at New Delhi and New York in two separate schedules; University of Southern California almuni Anne Misawa worked as the director of photography. While the first half story is set in Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University, filming was mainly done at Miranda House. Students and staff member from such institutions as Ramjas College and Lady Shri Ram were involved actively in the project. Tenzin Dalha, a final year political science student from the former, and Shuchi Dwivedi from the latter played one of Koechlin's love interests and her best friend in the film respectively. Other students from the university were cast in the roles of the members of a local band, which also included Dalha and Dwivedi. Koechlin's father was played by Kuljeet Singh, an English literature professor from Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College.
Set in the neighbourhood of Greenwich village, Margarita with a Straw's latter half was shot in New York, during the summer. Filming was done at Roosevelt Island and Coney Island. Snow machines were used to create the artificial environment required for various sequences set during winter season. The crew also faced difficulties in filming certain scenes; the van that was used to carry Koechlin in her wheelchair broke down and had to be manually stabilised while shooting. Prior to the filming of the sex scenes, the cast also attended workshops organised by Rachel Monsoon, to develop a better understanding of emotional and sexual intimacy. Moseley, who was especially anxious about his scenes with Koechlin, attended a workshop conducted by Bose herself. The complete film was shot in two months.
Margarita with a Straw was selected for the National Film Development Corporation of India's Work in Progress Lab initiative during post-production in 2013. It was edited by Monisha Baldawa and the sound mixing was done by Resul Pookutty and Amrit Preetam. Certain scenes with frontal nudity were removed during the editing process to avoid a conflict with the Central Board of Film Certification. Produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Ishan Talkies, in association with Jakhotia Group and Adapt, the film's final cut ran for a total of 100 minutes. Bose had funded the project herself as Viacom 18 covered only half of the production cost, which was estimated at ₹65 million. Another partner withdrew financial support around ten days prior to commencement. Bose had to apply for a personal loan to pay the bills, but was able to complete the film with support from the crew members, who agreed to delayed payment. The international distribution rights for Margarita with a Straw were acquired up by Wide Management, a Paris-based sales-production-distribution house.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Margarita with a Straw was composed by music director and singer Mickey McCleary with Joi Barua serving as the guest composer for both the versions of the song "Dusokute". The lyrics for the album were written by Prasoon Joshi primarily, with the exception of the tracks "I Need a Man" and "Don't Go Running Off Anytime Soon" which featured English lyrics written by McCleary. Such artists as Sharmistha Chatterjee, Sonu Kakkar, Anushka Manchanda, Rachel Varghese, Vivienne Pocha, and Rajnigandha Shekhawat variously provided vocals for the album. The first track to be released, the soft rock number "Dusokute" was originally composed by Barua in Assamese and was rewritten in Hindi by Joshi. The complete soundtrack was released under the label of Zee Music Company in April 2015.
Such critics as Kasmin Fernandes and Joginder Tuteja positively reviewed the soundtrack's unconventional style. The former appreciated Barua's "energetic vocals" in "Dusokute" and the "desi yet classy" number, "Foreign Balamwa" in her 3 out of 5 star review for The Times of India. She described the lyrics by Joshi as "cheerful", but was less impressed by McCleary's "passable" writing. Tuteja, writing for Bollywood Hungama, noted the album's lack of a commercial appeal and wrote that at best it "fit[s] in well into the stage and setting that the film stands for". Nonetheless, he was appreciative of McCleary's command over the compositions in English and his "boyish charm" as a vocalist. Tuteja was particularly impressed by Pocha's "thumping vocals" in "I Need a Man" and the serene effect of the final two tracks of the album. He also found the choice of such artists as Manchanda and Kakkar odd for what he described as an album heavily influenced by Western music. Contrary to the view, Bryan Durham of the Daily News and Analysis praised the duo for their respective tracks describing them as "unusual" and "candid" respectively. He singled out the instrumental number, "Laila's Theme" as "the beating heart of the film".
Release
Margarita with a Straw had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. The event was attended by the cast and crew including Bose and Koechlin; the latter said that she was overwhelmed by the response and, "loved to see the audiences cry and laugh with the movie". It later went on to be presented at such events across Europe as the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, the Galway Film Fleadh, the Vesoul Festival of Asian Cinema, and the Giffoni International Film Festival. Margarita with a Straw had its American premiere at the 2015 Palm Springs; it was screened at Castro Theater at the CAAMFest, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival later that year. The film opened the 2015 New York Indian Film Festival, and also featured at the 19th Busan International Film Festival and the Istanbul Film Festival. Out on Film, Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and Reeling were among the LGBT events that screened the production.
After garnering acclaim at the international film festival circuit, the producers of Margarita with a Straw sent it straight to the Central Board of Film Certification. The decision to not send it to any of the major Indian film festivals was looked upon by such commentators as Uma Da Cunha, editor for Film India Worldwide, as a part of the marketing strategy. Srinivasan Narayan, organiser of the Mumbai International Film Festival elaborated that while the Indian film festivals have grown, they have not yet reached a level where they can compete for international premieres. Instead, Margarita with a Straw had pre-release screenings for members of Indian film industry in Mumbai; they were variously attended by Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Vidya Balan, Anurag Kashyap, and Shraddha Kapoor along with the cast and crew of the production. The film was positively received at the time; Bollywood personalities including Khan and Hrithik Roshan then went on host separate special screenings for the film.
Ahead of its commercial release, the crew organised several promotional events; in an interview with the Indo-Asian News Service, Koechlin talked about the importance of marketing an independent film, saying that although the content of the films is evolving for the better, Bollywood remains to be an industry largely driven by box office gains. Bose wanted the film to be marketed as a commercial one despite its art house appeal; she was not very keen on sending it to film festivals and later asked the producers to avoid mentioning the accolades that the film had won at any of the promotional events. The official trailer was released on 4 March 2015 on Viacom 18 Motion Pictures' official YouTube channel. First look posters featuring Koechlin sipping margaritas using a drinking straw were also unveiled on the same day. The film was released theatrically in India on 17 April 2015.
Reception
Critical reception
Upon release, Margarita with a Straw garnered positive reviews from critics and audiences alike; Koechlin got widespread attention and acclaim for playing a disabled person, as did Bose for her direction and sensitive handling of the subject. Film critic Saibal Chatterjee equated the film to a life-like experience in his review for NDTV, highlighting the "emotionally arresting and startlingly revelatory story". He called it a rare, if not the only Indian film that addresses the subject of disability with such honesty; he thought that Laila's physical handicap eventually ceases to matter. The view was shared by Paloma Sharma of Rediff.com and Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express, who deemed it "wonderfully liberating" and "an achievement [for Indian cinema]" respectively. The former ascribed the film's appeal to the "ordinariness", which she believed is what made it truly exceptional. Gupta also made note of the "revolutionary" treatment of a bisexual character and sex in a Bollywood film. Ananya Bhattacharya emphasised on the lasting impact of the film writing that it would leave the viewer "with a sense of exhilaration", and can not be easily forgotten. She was laudatory of the script which she thought was without any superfluity, and was "straight from the heart".
Firstpost's Deepanjana Pal commended Bose's "intent" in basing the narrative around a character who isn't "normal". She was especially impressed by the manner in which the sex scenes were shot writing that it conveyed a "tenderness towards the on-screen lovers", without being weird or coy. While Subhash K. Jha lauded Bose for directing the scenes with a "luminous austerity", Gupta wrote that she, "blows it all out in the open with warmth and empathy". The Economic Times reviewer Tasneem Balapurwala was appreciative of the restraint and Bose's expert use of emotions without lingering on for "too long or milk[ing] it for effect". Sharma also highlighted the cinematography and commended Misawa for the "charming frames lit up with an almost dream-like, soft light". Bhattacharya was also synonymous in her praise for Misawa for her "aesthetic" frames.
Criticism was focused on the change of tone and hurried narrative in the latter half of the production by such critics as Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters and Mihir Fadnavis of Firspost. Although the latter was enthralled by the film's first half, he thought that after a "glorious, powerful beginning, Bose fails to figure out a proper resolution". Devesh Sharma was critical of the film's scattered plot in his review for Filmfare; he wrote that it "skips and jumps from one plot point to the other", leaving the viewer unsatisfied. Jamkhandikar similarly noted that Bose introduced "too many contrivances and conflicts" in the narrative.
Koechlin performance in the film, which was a source of much critical analysis, was variously dubbed by critics as "bravura", "virtuoso", and "exceptional". Pal ascribed her screen appeal to her lack of acting pretense; she commended "the lack of artifice in her expressions" as truly remarkable. Venky Vembu of The Hindu made a detailed note Koechlin's "understated artistry" saying that, "she lends such verisimilitude to her portrayal of a person with cerebral palsy, that you forget [...] that she’s an able-bodied actress". Writing for The Commercial Appeal, John Beifuss compared her performance to Eddie Redmayne's act as Stephen Hawking in the biographical drama, The Theory of Everything. He wrote that her performance would have attracted Academy Award notice in a major film studio production. The view was echoed by Variety critic Guy Lodge, who was particularly impressed by her range. The supporting cast of the film also received largely positive reviews for their respective performances; while Sanjukta Sharma of Livemint lauded Revathi for her "finely nuanced" portrayal of a mother, The Huffington Post's Suprateek Chatterjee regarded her character and performance as more compelling than any other in the film. Writing for Los Angeles Times, Gary Goldstein offered a mixed response to the production, but concluded by saying that owing to Koechlin and Gupta's performances, "it's hard not to be captivated".
Box office
Margarita with a Straw released in India on around 250 screens and had an average opening at the box office. After collecting a a meager sum of ₹5 million (US$78,000) on its opening day, the figures began to grow over the following days largely because of positive word of mouth. The film collected improved totals of ₹7.5 million (US$120,000) on Saturday and ₹9 million (US$140,000) on Sunday bringing the opening weekend collections to ₹21.2 million (US$330,000). It faced competition from other productions including Mr. X, and previous releases Ek Paheli Leela, and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! in its opening weekend at the box office, but was expected to do well because of the positive reviews; the first week numbers held steady at ₹32.4 million (US$510,000). The film did particularly well in urban areas like Mumbai and National Capital Region where it collected ₹19 million (US$300,000) and ₹15 million (US$230,000) respectively. The trend was analysed by Shobha De as marking a "dramatic shift in urban audiences' tastes". She made note of the newfound acceptance of unconventional and sexual themes in Indian cinema. Margarita with a Straw grossed a total of ₹74 million (US$1.2 million) during its theatrical run.
Accolades
Bose won the NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The production was subsequently awarded the Audience and the Youth Jury prizes at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema respectively. Koechlin won several accolades for her performance, including the Best Actress Award at Tallinn, the Screen Award for Best Actress, and the Jury Award at the 63rd National Film Awards. Additionally, she had garnered nominations for Best Actress at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Asian Film Awards. McCleary won the Best Composer Award at the last of the aforementioned ceremonies.
References
External links
- Margarita with a Straw on IMDb