How to handle terrorism on the big screen
Hotel Mumbai director Anthony Maras on the fine line between art and real life
IN MAKING A film about the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, director Anthony Maras had to balance filmmaking concerns with a human tragedy. 174 people were killed and hundreds more injured when members of an extremist Islamic terrorist group carried out a series of bombings and shootings, including taking over the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Here’s Maras’ approach to Hotel Mumbai.
SPEAK TO THE VICTIMS
After watching the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai, Maras conceived a movie that would tell the stories of the victims. “We set out on a year-long journey interviewing,” he says. Many who spoke to Maras requested their names not be used, which he respected. “The main characters were amalgamations.” They include a waiter, played by Dev Patel, who risks his life to save guests, and Armie Hammer as a US tourist.
NUANCE IS CRUCIAL
“We wanted a nuanced perspective on the attackers also,” says Maras. “A lot of aggressors [in similar movies] are one-note.” He used court transcripts and police interviews to try to establish a true portrait of the men committing these atrocities. Many were from “impoverished parts of Pakistan and difficult families. [We didn’t want to] absolve what they did, but to understand [them].”
KNOW WHEN TO DO LESS
Some real-life events were so extraordinary, Maras had to exclude them to make the film more believable. “There was a young girl barricaded in her hotel room,” he says. “The gunmen didn’t find her, but her wing was set on fire. She called her parents to say goodbye. The parents found a map of the hotel online and guided her to safety from half a world away. We shot that scene, but cut it because it felt like a movie invention.”
DON’T BE AFRAID OF DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
While it’s a depiction of a single event, Maras is aware that terrorist attacks are tragically frequent and his film will have echoes of the current world. (It was pulled from cinemas in New Zealand after the Christchurch mosque shootings). “Art is a reflection of our times,” he says. “I hate that this film is more relevant now than when we started making it. [But] I think sunlight is the best disinfectant and we should be having honest conversations about difficult subjects.”
HOTEL MUMBAI IS IN CINEMAS AND ON SKY CINEMA IN SEPTEMBER