An Oscar end to Monsoon Wedding?

mumbai: "frankly, it's a masti-mazaa picture," mira nair whoops while tucking into a tandoori pomfret lunch at a juhu hotel suite. "i didn't expect it to become so huge at international festivals, let alone win the world's most serious film award." her sixth feature film, monsoon wedding, grabbed the golden lion at venice, became a cause celebre at the cannes festival, and could well be among the top five nominees at the academy awards ceremony in hollywood come march 2002.already u.s.a. films, a subsidiary of universal pictures, has initiated a heavy-duty campaign for the venice winner. meanwhile, the peripatetic producer-director air-dropped into the city on friday to ensure that her much-feted film gets its premiere theatrical release in india on november 30. the nationwide release has been entrusted to columbia-tristar here. jet-lagged but characteristically peppy, the 44-year-old film-maker talked to the times of india in her first interview in the city after snagging the plum venice award. "the chances of monsoon wedding at the oscars are pretty strong," is all that she volunteers though its inclusion in competition hinges on the recommendation made by the film federation of india. the two other top favourite contenders for the nominations from india are santosh sivan's asoka and ashutosh gowarikar's lagaan. on being prodded, nair, her eyes smudged with midnight kohl, does disclose that the two-hour film - revolving around the hilarious and humane events that beset a punjab wedding in new delhi - will be contesting for the golden globes in the us, the bafta awards in the uk and the cesars in france. "the overwhelming response has been that it's a feel-good movie with an universal appeal that cuts across all ages, classes and countries," nair states, adding, "in fact, a californian guy came up to me and asked, `hey, how the hell did you make a film, which is so close to the story of my own family?"' still understandably euphoric about being lionised in venice, nair rewinds, "we were a 23-strong battalion here, including the cast, crew, my mum and son zohran, and we were thrilled by the spontaneous audience participation at the screening. italian aristocrats in diamonds and dior, laughed and danced in the aisles throughout, eventually giving us a standing ovation of 15 minutes." the film showcases an ensemble cast of 67 characters frontlined by naseeruddin shah, lillete dubey, vasundhara das, shefali shetty and vijay raaz. the director recalls that neither she nor the unit had expected to win at venice. "i'd even flown to new york after the screening," her eyes rock-` n'-roll, "when i was bombarded with phone calls to return, pronto. as soon as i did, the paparazzi at the airport asked, `so senora, how does it feel to be the lioness from india?" the golden lion, she points out, effectively translates into a 40 per cent increase in ticket sales in europe for monsoon wedding. she has also been offered projects by six major hollywood studios, "at least two of which are tempting. they'd allow me to paint a vaster landscape on a vaster canvas". by contract, monsoon wedding had a miniature canvas and was shot on super 16 mm within 30 days in new delhi "on a budget which was so tight that the food for the unit came from my mum's kitchen in vasant vihar". what next? the prolific nair has already wrapped up her next film, hysterical blindness, with uma thurman and gina rowlands. "i've just one life and so many moves to make," she says polishing off the pomfret lunch and concludes, "all i know is that i'd loooove to make a star-studded bollywood blockbuster. watch this space, huh?