Bidding war for the maid’s tale

TILLOTAMA Shome wore a sari on the beach, a beautiful counterpoint to the indignities her character suffers in a film that has captivated audiences in Critics’ Week, the smallest of the three side events that follow the official section of the Film Festival.

as good as some of the main selection has been, i was captivated by the films i saw in the Un Certain Regard, Quinzaine (Director’s Fortnight) and Critics’ Week.

Director Rohena Gera’s picture Sir features ms Shome playing Ratna, a widow who leaves her village to work as a maid in mumbai. Her employer is ashwin (Vivek Gomber), a journalist from a wealthy family whose marriage was called off at the 11th hour.

‘The domestic workers are treated as the lowest of the low,’ Rohena told me. Tillotama explained: ‘The reason you see Ratna sitting on the ground, eating her meals, is because the idea of her sitting on your sofa — or any of your chairs — is unspeakable.’

So the idea that Ratna and ashwin might fall in love is beyond shocking.

i loved the film, in part because i admired the grit that shines through in Tillotama’s beautifully nuanced performance. ‘There’s this idea of privilege and happiness being related,’ Rohena said. ‘But for me it was important not to have Ratna as a victim, but to turn it on its head.

‘To see that for ashwin, privilege is a gilded cage, whereas Ratna — because she has nothing — has nothing to lose. She’s away from her family and fighting for her life. They give each other little bits of courage.’

Tillotama agreed. ‘it was important to give Ratna dignity. She has an inner strength.’ Both Tillotoma and Rohena said they felt guilty during the shoot.

The actress said: ‘i’m part of this exploitative system, where we do enjoy a certain comfort at a very low cost of employing maids. But i feel that, hopefully, i don’t exploit them. and i employ with a sense of responsibility.’

She added that she had worked in low-paying jobs when she was studying in New York. ‘it woke me up,’ she said. ‘and making Sir woke me up again.’

The film, which the director funded privately, was involved in a bidding war in Cannes and has sold to various territories around the world. There are hopes it will find a distributor in the UK, too. i hope so.