CT: But I think that’s why the film appeals to the audience on such an emotional level. Even to people who are not from the Parsi community, who may have never been to Bombay. Because ultimately we — the audience — feel that it’s real. It’s not a fantastical story that could never happen. The characters feel like people we may know or come to know, at some point in our lives… 

ST: I decided that I wanted to direct it myself, because it was my baby. I had never written a script for myself before. I didn’t want to give it to anyone else and I thought I would be the best person to direct it because I knew exactly what I wanted. And I didn’t think that anyone else would be mad enough to direct a script like this without cutting some part out or saying “this doesn’t work”. Because it’s not a conventional story, not a conventional structure and definitely not a conventional film.

CT: As a screenwriter and a photographer you are in these solitary professions where you can go photograph on the streets, or crawl under a writing rock and you are not depending on anything or anyone else. Directing must have been incredibly challenging in that sense, so different from your comfort zone?

ST: Actually no. It would have been many years ago. When I first became a photographer I was interested in films in college. Made films as an undergraduate as well, in some beginning filmmaking classes. I never actively pursued that route because I didn’t have the personality to be hustling and at that time I was much more of an introvert. So me with one camera was just perfect for me. Same with writing, but now I’ve changed and I welcome the collaboration, I welcome working with so many people. I welcome not being alone, stuck to my desk or just with my camera. I really enjoyed being able to work with so many talented people. Everyone is working so hard to help you realize your vision… Totally enjoyable!

CT: Who has been your inspiration as a director?

ST: Woody Allen. Because he was a writer as well and I felt close to his personality – he’s more of a quiet type on set, not a yeller and a screamer. I read something he once said which was that the way he directs is to choose the best person for the role and then let them do what they are really good at, which was my philosophy. If you have someone who is a really good actor being a director, that person can show the actors how it should be done, but I couldn’t do that so I did what would work best for me. Everyone on the set of ‘Little Zizou’ was never far out of their comfort zone.

CT: With the success of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ — which have become the two words that are most inflammatory but also representative for Indian cinema to the rest of the world — a lot of people are rediscovering ‘Salaam Bombay’ and some are calling it the original Slumdog. Can you talk a bit about your personal experience while working on the film?

ST: ‘Salaam Bombay’ was everybody’s first film. It had an energy and a passion that would be very difficult to replicate, when you are older or when you have done more work. So that’s the one defining characteristic for me about the film. It was everyone’s first. Mira’s first film as a feature film director, my first script, the kids’ first acting experience, Sandi’s [Sissel] first DP job, everyone’s first experience. We just plunged into it, we didn’t know any better and we swam, we didn’t sink! 

CT: Typically, in Mira Nair’s films, you have worked on scripts that are original, the stories jointly created by you. What was it like to adapt Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel ‘The Namesake’ for the screen?

ST: By the time I did ‘The Namesake’ I had actually adapted a lot of works before that. I have written a lot of scripts that ended up never being made. I’ve written 21 scripts and many of them were adaptations of books. Besides ‘Such a Long Journey’, which was made into a film, I’ve adapted ‘The Impressionist’ by Hari Kunzru, a play ‘Homebody/Kabul’ by Tony Kushner, another play for Demi Moore, a book called ‘Black Ice’ by Lorene Cary, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. You know, adaptations for me are much easier than writing original screenplays because I feel the hard work has already been done by the author. And I am just bringing in my craft to translate from one medium to another. I always put myself in the service of the author. What was difficult about ‘The Namesake’ is that it’s such a popular book and going into it was a bit daunting. So many people absolutely love the book and it’s hard to live up to something that is so well loved. Also, most books that are adapted into films have a driving plot, while this was more of a gentle coming of age over three generations and two continents. It’s more of a state of mind and very internal.

CT: Personally, I was amazed by ‘The Namesake’ because although you stayed completely true to the book, you also told a different story. There was more of Ashima, the mother, in your film version whereas in the book the story seems to belong to Gogol.

ST: That again comes back to the question of age. Mira and I really, really, really empathized with the parents. And we understood the subject — we both live between two worlds, we understand Gogol because we’ve been there, and we understand the parents because now we are parents ourselves — so in that way it was very close to both Mira and me. I guess it was an instinctive thing to be drawn to the parents more than Gogol. 

CT: It’s told from a different prospective, which is why it’s such a great adaptation. You are not seeing on the screen the exact same story you just read on paper.

ST: Exactly, it’s not an illustration of the novel.

CT: I heard Mira Nair speak recently about ‘Mississippi Masala’ and how the two of you went from motel to motel in middle America to research the film. What was that like?

ST: It was a lot of fun doing the research because we drove around — I forget which states now — but we started in New Orleans and I think we ended up in Memphis, Tennessee and we actually had an accident which was what inspired me to start the film with that accident. So the whiplash part of it was also because we had the accident and there was this thing with whiplash and insurance and all that. Luck by chance, again. So all that was great, Mira came from a documentary tradition and my photography is also more documentary. We both loved doing research, we base everything on reality — I mean the research is the most fun part of it!  

CT: Where do you see yourself in five years?

ST: I have no idea! That’s what I like about my life, I don’t even know what I’m going to be doing tomorrow. I like it this way. Mira’s dad used to call me “Rudderless Ship”. I have since kind of found a rudder, but a part of me is still that ship.

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