The global touch
More than five decades after they first shared screen-space in the 1967 romantic comedy film Barefoot in the Park, legendary actors Robert Redford and Jane Fonda will be seen together again in Ritesh Batra’s Our Souls at Night. The film, which had its world premiere at the ongoing Venice Film Festival on Friday, saw Redford, Fonda and Ritesh in attendance.
Ritesh says, “I really looked forward to seeing Robert and Jane again, because we worked together very
It would be a lie to say that you are not nervous to experience the movie with the real audience and feel it with them. RITESH BATRA, FILM-MAKER
intensely on the set. It’s always great to get back together with such great actors and to also see a movie with the real audience, which is very exciting, as it’s the first time that I watched the movie with other people,” says Ritesh. The twootime Oscar-winningg actress and the veteran actoror received Lifetime Achievement awards at the film festival.
Was he nervous about his film’s first-ever screening? “Not any more or any less than I have been for my other movies. But it would be a lie to say that you are not nervous [at such events] to experience the movie with the real audience and feel it with them. It’s always a little nerve-wracking, but it’s also a lot of fun to see how people respond to things [in the film],” says The Lunchbox (2013) director, adding that it’s helpful for him to “just mix it up and work here and there”.
While Fonda feels Ritesh is “calm, dignified and masterful as a director”, Redford revealed at the Venice Film Festival that the film-maker “came through our lab process many years ago.” “Then we premiered The Lunchbox and that’s when we got connected to Ritesh. When this film (Our Souls At Night) came about, it was chance to give an opportunity to him and he expressed an interest in it,” says Redford.
Ritesh, on his part, feels that it was a “very special” experience for him. “Jane and Robert are super collaborative. Robert is, I feel, at the absolute peak of his acting powers and with every movie, he has always shown a new side of himself. For me, it was very special to work with both of them,” he says.
Ask Ritesh if his diverse experience is helping him in his journey as a film-maker and he says: “I am very committed to doing films in India as this is where I am from and this is where my stories are from. So, in that sense, it’s not like it helps or anything, because it’s just something that you want to do with your life and you choose to do that. That’s how I think about it.”
The film-maker admits that he made a choice “to make a movie there (in the West) and then make a movie here (in India).” “I made the choice because it’s important for me to always be an outsider. I feel it is really helpful to be an outsider, especially when you are trying to tell a story,” he says.