2014 Indian drama film by Shonali Bose
Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age following her complex relationship with a blind girl, played by Sayani Gupta. Revathi, Kuljeet Singh, and William Moseley play supporting roles. Produced by Bose in partnership with Viacom18 Motion Pictures, "Margarita with a Straw" was co-written by Bose and Nilesh Maniyar. The film deals with the challenging concepts of sexuality, inclusion, self-love, and self-acceptance.
Bose conceived the idea for the film in January 2011 during a conversation with Malini Chib, her cousin and a disability rights activist, about the latter's desire to have a normal sex life. Inspired by Chib's story, Bose wrote the first draft of the film's script. After winning a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award for the draft, she modified the script to reflect her own perspective, incorporating several personal experiences into the narrative. Bose completed the screenplay with co-writer Maniyar and the advisory council of the Sundance Institute.
Bose was keen to cast an actress with cerebral palsy for the central part, but eventually hired Koechlin, who learnt the movements and speech patterns of people with the disorder. Filming took place in Delhi and New York in 2013, with Anne Misawa 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 Mikey McCleary.
"Margarita with a Straw" premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was also screened at the Tallinn Black Nights, the BFI London, the Vesoul Festival of Asian Cinema, and the Galway Film Fleadh. The film was released theatrically in India on 17 April 2015 to positive reviews. Commentators praised most aspects of the production, Koechlin's performance, and Bose's direction. Koechlin won the Screen Award for Best Actress and the National Film Award – Special Jury Award, and Bose won the NETPAC Award at Toronto. Commercially, "Margarita with a Straw" grossed over ₹74million against a production budget of ₹65million.
Plot.
Laila Kapoor is a teenager with cerebral palsy studying at Delhi University. She is an aspiring writer and also composes music for an indie band at the university. Laila develops feelings for the lead singer, but is heartbroken when she is rejected. Moving on from the experience, Laila is overjoyed to receive a scholarship for a semester's study at New York University. Despite her father's reservations, she moves to Greenwich Village, Manhattan with her orthodox Maharashtrian mother, Shubhangini Damle.
Laila meets an attractive young man named Jared, who is assigned to help her in the creative writing class. She also meets a young activist, Khanum, a blind girl of Pakistani-Bangladeshi descent, with whom she falls in love. Laila is enamoured by Khanum's fiercely independent personality and her positive perspective towards her own disability. The two spend most of their time together, filling in as each other's caregivers. Laila becomes confused 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, only to regret it immediately. Laila does not tell Khanum about this encounter. Oblivious to her daughter's relationship with Khanum, Laila's mother invites Khanum to Delhi to spend the summer vacation with Laila's family.
Laila ultimately finds the courage to come out to her mother about bisexuality and her relationship with Khanum, both of which her mother strongly disapproves. Laila also confesses to Khanum that she had sex with Jared and asks for her forgiveness. Feeling betrayed by Laila, Khanum breaks up with her and leaves for New York. Shubhangini is diagnosed with advanced colon cancer which has relapsed after previous treatments. Laila and her mother move past their differences while Laila tends to her at the hospital. The two eventually reconcile shortly before Shubhangini's death. Laila plays a song (recorded by Shubhangini) at Shubhangini's funeral telling how much she loved her and how she was the only one who ever understood her. Laila is later seen drinking a margarita with a straw while on a "date" with herself.
Cast.
Credits adapted from Rotten Tomatoes.
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Production.
Development.
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"Khanum is so striking, just such a fantastic character. And there was this really boring, British boy who lived in America. When I owned the character, writing from being Laila myself, Laila was like 'Are you kidding me? This is the more interesting person...' But I didn't do it consciously thinking, Laila just fell in love with Khanum and it happened organically, not from me wanting to deal with this issue."
— Bose on Laila's sexuality
Shonali Bose began working on a story in January 2011, on what would have been her son's 17th birthday (he had died the year previously). 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 Bose's own experience of losing a family member. She acknowledged the difficulty of incorporating elements from her personal life into the story, 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 her niece to work on a similar project aimed at creating awareness regarding the subject. Having grown up in the same household as Chib, Bose 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 it into the narrative.
Bose later adapted the original draft into a feature film-length script for "Margarita with a Straw" with co-writer Nilesh Maniyar. In 2012 the script won the Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award. As part of the prize, the duo were awarded mentorships from the Sundance Institute's staff and creative advisors, and participated 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, instead of solely trying to incorporate Chib's point of view. She said that only after winning the award did she incorporate (unconsciously) her experiences as a bisexual woman in India. Bose and Maniyar worked for two years on the script as it went through more than forty revisions before becoming the final screenplay.
Casting.
Bose originally intended to cast actors with the same disabilities as the characters of Laila and Khanum. Since there were no actresses with cerebral palsy in India, she held auditions for the role in institutions that catered to patients, but could not find a suitable person to play the central role. 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. The actress refused to pursue the role, being uncomfortable with the sexual content of the script. She nevertheless helped Bose by assisting Sayani Gupta, who was eventually cast as Khanum.
Having decided to cast a professional for the part of Laila, Bose approached Kalki Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice" for the role. Since Koechlin was still shooting for "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani" (2013) at the time, Bose began looking for other actresses to play the role, but felt that "something was missing" in each one. She eventually decided to push the filming back for three months to accommodate her first choice. Koechlin admitted that the role was the most challenging of her film career and she took six months to prepare for it. She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor Adil Hussain, which was 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 body part movements. Although the film addresses aspects of the challenges 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 cast for the role after a lengthy selection process that lasted 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 such as cooking and bathing and spent time with a special voice and accent trainer. She also attended classes at the National Association for the Blind, where she learned basic braille. Revathi, who had previously played a mother to a young child with cerebral palsy in "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.
Filming and post-production.
Principal photography for "Margarita with a Straw" began in 2013 and took place at New Delhi and New York with two separate schedules. Anne Misawa worked as the director of photography. While the first half of the story is set in the Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University, it was mainly filmed at Miranda House. Students and staff members from institutions such as Ramjas College and Lady Shri Ram were involved actively in the project. Tenzin Dalha, a final year political science student from the former, played one of Koechlin's love interests in the film; Shuchi Dwivedi from the latter played Koechlin's best friend. Other students from the university were cast as 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, the second half of "Margarita with a Straw" was shot during the summer in New York. Filming took place at Roosevelt Island and Coney Island. Snow machines created the artificial environment required for various sequences set during winter season. The crew faced difficulties in filming certain scenes. At one point, the van that was used to carry Koechlin in her wheelchair broke down and had to be manually stabilised during the shoot. Prior to the filming of the sex sceness, the cast attended workshops 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 Pritam. Certain scenes with frontal nudity were removed during the editing process to avoid a conflict with the Central Board of Film Certification. Produced by Viacom18 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 Viacom18 covered only half the estimated ₹65million production cost. Another partner withdrew financial support around ten days prior to commencement of filming. 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 their payments being delayed. The international distribution rights for "Margarita with a Straw" were acquired by Wide Management, a Paris-based sales-production-distribution house.
Soundtrack.
Music director and singer Mikey McCleary composed the soundtrack for "Margarita with a Straw", with Joi Barua serving as the guest composer for both versions of the song "Dusokute". The lyrics for the album were written primarily by Prasoon Joshi, except for the tracks "I Need a Man" and "Don't Go Running Off