Director shoots local, thinks global
Gangster story resonates across cultures, Oscar- winner Mehta says
Watching Beeba Boys, you could be led to believe the streets of Vancouver are criss- crossed by fast- talking Indo- Canadian gangsters sporting snazzy tailored suits, driving the latest sports cars and brandishing shiny weapons.
The l atest film by Academy Award- nominated director Deepa Mehta paints a Scorsese- inspired and Tarantino- esque portrait of the recurring crime stories you may read or hear about in the news.
Beeba Boys tells the story of Jeet Johar ( played by Bollywood’s Randeep Hooda), the leader of the movie’s eponymous stylish gang ( meaning “the good boys”). He rules his territory with a fist full of chrome, battling with a rival gang for the drugs and weapons trade.
He gets involved with a juror from his trial, Katya Drobot ( Sarah Allen), and the movie spirals into a series of confrontations with rival gangsters and the police, with a special appearance by Paul Gross as a particularly distasteful crime associate.
If this sounds a bit familiar — say, like the tale of famed ’ 90s gangster Bindy Johal and his romantic interest Gillian Guess, as well as the involvement of then Vancouver police commanding officer Kash Heed — it’s because it is.
Mehta is quick to say the parallels between Beeba Boys and the real- life events that inspired the film are many.
“It’s not inspired by just one story — Beeba Boys is an amalgamation of true events and true characters,” Mehta said. “Jeet is not inspired solely by Bindy Johal. ... This is not Bindy Johal’s story.
“It’s definitely set in Vancouver with what started in the ’ 80s,” inspired in part by coverage of Indo-Canadian Sikh gangsters by Vancouver Sun reporter Kim Bolan.
“It’s a very Vancouver story,” Mehta said. “And in a way it’s fas--
cinating to find something that’s so particular in Canada, actually.”
Beeba Boys is ultraviolent, hyper-vulgar, and takes no prisoners.
It’s also about being an immigrant and wanting to be accepted and respected, and it immerses the viewer into Indo- Sikh culture.
But does Beeba Boys glamorize or sensationalize a very real and very dangerous lifestyle that has been adopted by a small group?
“Every gang movie has a style,” Mehta said. “You look at Casino, for example, or the films of Coppola. Everything is very stylized. It’s interesting: No white community will give the opportunity for any immigrant to be stylized. Then it becomes sensational. Why are we all right with white people being stylized and stylish, and why do we get uncomfortable when brown people are?
“The whole point of the film, in many ways, is, ‘ How do we belong ?’ Mehta said. “Jeet says, ‘ If you want to be seen, then want to be seen.’ They want to be accepted and they aren’t respected. Crime doesn’t pay — that’s the moral of the story. But if you want to be seen, you have to commit to being seen.
“Every brotherhood has a way of expressing who they are, to show that they are a brotherhood — whether they’re gang members or they belong to a club or they work in a bank.”