Pushing the envelope in “When Kiran met Karen”

In India, homosexually is a taboo subject and rarely talked about. India’s gay and lesbian population is estimated at 50 million people or 5% of the population. The majority of these people live double lives and are married to people of the opposite sex. However, attitudes are quickly changing due to positive representation in American media and Bollywood. “When Kiran met Karen” is one such film.

Written and directed by Manan Katohora, the movie pushes cross-cultural, inter- racial and moral boundaries. Set in New York City, “When Kiran met Karen” tells a love story between a Bollywood actress and a newbie journalist. Asiance interviewed Director Manan Katohora and lead actresses Chriselle Almeida and Kelli Holsopple who play the lead roles, Kiran and Karen.

Kelli Holsopple

ASIANCE: Tell us about your role and why you chose it?

Kelli: I play a journalist who is an out lesbian and she writes for a magazine about women in film. She gets to interview this Bollywood star, Kiran. She’s starting out in her career. This is her first celebrity interview.

I know there aren’t that many films that deal with lesbianism from Indian directors. I think it’s the first time there is bi-racial relationship.

I think there a lot of people still in the closet. But I think it’s getting more accepted and accepted, especially as more famous people come out. The more that happens, the more people realize they have sisters and brothers and cousins who are gay and you can’t just stop loving your family members. The more movies that are made, they more it will get better.

ASIANCE: How did you get the part?

Kelli: I met Samrat who is playing Dev Ghosh. He passed on my information to the director.

ASIANCE: What is your background?

Kelli: I trained in college in Indiana and I trained in New York City as well. But this is my first feature film. I have only done theatre, a lot of Shakespeare and classical stuff.

Click to watch the trailer

ASIANCE: Was this a challenging role for you?

Kelli: No. I think what draws me to characters are people who have really strong needs. When they want things really strongly and see how they go about getting it. How they have different goals and it all comes together to get what they want. It’s very human and very interesting and dramatic. There are a lot of sweet and funny moments too.

ASIANCE: What American actors would you like to work with in the future?

Kelli: I want to work with really good actors. That’s how you grow. You get better. And can really learn. I admire Hillary Swank’s movies, like Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby.

Director Manan Katohora

ASIANCE: It’s been a long road but it’s finally finished.

Manan: We had the script since 2006, but it took about 1 year ½ to get the funding. You know they say it works out in the end. We had a big Bollywood actress attached to it but she backed out. Then my investors backed out because she backed out, so there was a lot of drama. But we got some great locations and some newer actors because the budget was small. There has been positive buzz and some negative buzz because of the delay but distributors are on board. It should be out by summer 2008.

ASIANCE: Yes there is a lot of buzz so we wanted to check it out.

Manan: That is what is so great about this movie. There is an audience already and a strong buzz which money can’t buy.

We will send it to some festivals. We’ll send it to Toronto. Next year we’ll send to Sundance. I will be in IFFLA, the biggest India Festival in Los Angeles.

ASIANCE: What made you decide to come up with this idea for a movie?

Manan: Honestly after Fire (Deepa Mehta’s 1998 movie), there hasn’t been any good movie with a cast of characters like these good lesbian characters. There was one movie in India called Girlfriend which was very dirty and full of stereotypes.

It was a story I had to share. A lot of times in a movie there is one character that is a lesbian but there are all stereotypes. I figure there was a need for some story about someone coming out about the complexities about that. It’s about this Bollywood star, who comes to New York, stays at this hotel, has a press conference, and meets this lesbian journalist. Basically everything happens. It’s a human story, a drama.

The end is very explicit.

Click to watch a more explicit trailer

ASIANCE: Do you think you are pushing the envelope?

Manan: The bulk of the story is one day in the life of these two characters who spend the day together at a 10 million dollar mansion. In the process, they learn a lot about each other, her struggle to be a famous actress and the journalist’s desire of where she wants to go. That is about 45 minutes. That is half of the movie. We touched a lot of issues there, including religion, and how they look at relationships.

ASIANCE: Do you think because it’s in America it’s more accepted here than India.

Manan: I think the last 10 years, the cities in India have changed a lot. There’s more awareness, much better than there was 10 years ago. There is still a need for more acceptance. It’s easy to accept things over here (America).

ASIANCE: What do you think is the big difference between and India women and Indian American women?

Manan: I don’t think there is a difference. There are stereotypes that India women in America are not aware of their culture. I don’t believe that. I see a lot of women here interested in their heritage. At the same time I know Indians in Indian who are completely westernized. They follow the music, movies and fashions in America. I don’t think you can just point that out.

ASIANCE: Do you know anyone who is suppressing their own homosexuality?

Manan: I know a lot of people. A lot of men in India who are married and have kids but they are too scared to come out. Just because you have a kid doesn’t mean you are straight.

ASIANCE: Is that true for men and women?

Manan: Mostly men. It’s tougher for men to come out. There is also homosexuality in China which is very suppressed. My original story was about a Chinese woman and an India woman. So I did a lot of research about it in China.

Do you know the movie Kinsey with Liam Neeson? It’s about a guy who wrote a book on homosexuality about 50 years ago. He said there is a scale. One side is gay and the other side is straight. All of us are somewhere in between.

One of my best friends came out 3 years ago. He went to a counselor, told his wife, told his wife’s parents. Now he is happy. He took advice and did it the proper way.

That is what matters. To be true to yourself.

ASIANCE: Was it hard for you to accept that Purva Bedi turned down the role?

Manan: Well she called me from India and she was very honest. She said, “I like the script.” I know what happened. Six months later she got married. Chances are her fiancée told her not to do it. Because all of sudden she said she didn’t feel inhibited enough. But I don’t buy that because she loved the script.

The actress in her loved it but the girlfriend/fiancée didn’t.

But I think Chriselle, the girl who plays Kiran, was meant to play this role. She was meant to play Kiran. We made a few changes, like age, but I think she is perfect.

ASIANCE: Give us three adjectives to describe Chriselle.

Manan: Perfectionist, passionate and sexy in a classy way.

We did a sex scene and my biggest responsibility as a director is to make the sex scene classy. The chemistry between them was brilliant.

What we have is very honest. I think it looks very honest. The only other movie I’ve seen is “Imagine Me and You”. That was a big lesbian coming out story. And Grey Matters.

I thought Brokeback Mountain would change and more movies like this would come out but it’s still getting better. I love that movie. It was brilliant. I was sitting in a hall watching the movie by myself. The performances and story of that movie were so beautiful that you don’t even think of them as two guys. You just think of the two people in love.

ASIANCE: What do you think of the people who get hurt in these types of relationships?

Manan: It’s better to hurt now than live a relationship full of lies. If I’m with someone for fifty years and then have a secret life, wouldn’t it just be better to break up, part ways now, become friends and things will change. Time is the biggest healer. Just be honest.

ASIANCE: What is next for you?

Manan: It’s a comedy called Bollywood Blues. It’s a million dollar project. It’s going to have some big names. That is why the budget is great. It’s a comedy but also cross cultural.

ASIANCE: What is one thing you want people to take about from this film?

Manan: I want people to think about something. I want people to watch the movie and ask questions. Like what if my best friend or boyfriend or wife was suppressing this? And think of how we should not do that. I have two younger sisters and maybe one of them is? If she decides to come out, I think I have to have a protective environment, a clean environment. I think the movie will raise some good questions. How people have such shallow thinking. How we shouldn’t have a one track mind. Things are getting better everyday.

ASIANCE: Who would you like to work with in the future?

Manan: I’m trying to get Marisa Tomei for the next movie. I want to approach Lisa Kudrow. For the lead character as the American director, I’m trying to approach David Schwimmer. These are great actors looking for some meaty roles.

Pre-production will start in Spring ’08. It’s out there. People are already talking about it.

Chriselle Almeida

ASIANCE: What made you decide to play this role, Kiran?

Chriselle: Well I read the script and what I loved about it was that it got away from the stereotypes. It was about a real India woman who had all these complexities and not your cookie- cutter good Indian girl. I thought, “You know what? I want to do this!” I want to show the sides the Indian girls hide from their parents. So that really appealed to me.

ASIANCE: Do you think there is a big difference between the women in India as opposed to the Indian American women?

Chriselle: I was born and raised in India so I kind of seen a little bit of both sides and I think that there really isn’t that much of a difference. I’m surprised to see Indian American women raised in the states a little more tightly wound than Indian women. Indian women are trying to be more Americanized now and Indian American women are trying to go back to their roots, so it sort of becomes grey in a way.

I feel like immigrant parents are stricter with their kids here. They think they are far away from home and try and keep the values. Parents over there a sort of like whatever, you want to go to school in America, ook!

ASIANCE: Do you think Lesbianism is common just not spoken? What do you think?

Chriselle: I don’t think it is spoken about at all. Gay or Lesbian. I know people in relationships for years who were referred to as “your friend”. No one talks about it or brings it up. It’s very under wraps. I hear more and more about gay men becoming more and more open but lesbianism is still not spoken that much about. They think how could a woman not want a man? How could she not want a good Indian man?

ASIANCE: What is your background in film?

Chriselle: I moved to the states when I was 14. I received my undergraduate degree in Acting from the University of Connecticut and then I went to UCLA graduate school for acting. I’m more theatre heavy. I’ve done 4 or 5 films but this is my biggest plum role.

ASIANCE: Give us three words to describe your director.

Chriselle: He is driven, confident and assertive.

ASIANCE: Do you want to hear what he said about you?

Chriselle: Oh geez yeah..

ASIANCE: Perfectionist, passionate and sexy

Chriselle: Oh yeah nice! I like that!

ASIANCE: Anyone you would like to work with? Are you a fan of Aishwarya Rai?

Chriselle: I have never been into the whole Bollywood thing. I wanted to get into Hollywood and be an actress of color. That’s why I like this role because even though she is Indian, it’s not about the race. I would love to work with Mira Nair and the other people who are making big meaty stuff out there. I would love to work with this cast again.

ASIANCE: Do you know anyone who suppresses their sexuality?

Chriselle: Yes I’ve come across tons of people. Some are even married. That kind of pressure and that kind of thinking must be so difficult. I guess denial is the first thing that people do and think you can change it.

ASIANCE: Did you know you were going to be pushing the envelope in this movie?

Chriselle: Yes I did. I was happy to. It was about time it wasn’t just about a good Indian girl going to med school with the arranged marriage or all those overplayed roles.

In general, Kiran does most things that Indian families would frown upon, hugely. But the relationship with Karen is fantastic because it is so real, genuine and honest.

ASIANCE: What are you doing next?

Chriselle: I’m going to India, to just kind of refocus!

For more information on When Kiran met Karen visit www.imdb.com