Given the relatively gentle nature of her earlier films, you’d think that director Deepa Mehta would be disturbed by the violence in her gangster pic Beeba Boys. But she was actually kinda into it.
“I love violent gangster films,” she says enthusiastically, clad not in the traditional saris she often wears but in jeans, a V-neck sweater and oxblood Blundstones.
“I know it’s politically incorrect but I’m completely fascinated by that kind of violence. It’s like that feeling you get driving by a horrible accident. No one wants to be involved in something like that, but they can’t resist looking.”
Don’t suggest to the Oscar nominee (Water) that Beeba Boys, the story of Sikh mobsters in 90s Vancouver, is a departure from her previous work.
“The question nauseates me,” she says. “Sorry if I’m ranting, but really, this film contains the same themes of all of my films: immigration, identity, sensitivity to a female point of view. It’s really about how immigrants become gangsters as a way of finding their place in a new country.”
And she was determined to make it quintessentially Canadian. In one scene her main character Jeet is seen playing a deluxe game of table hockey and she also makes some of her gangsters fans of David Suzuki.
“David loved the script and couldn’t wait to be part of it. So, instead of using archival footage of him on television – and worrying about rights and payments – he came on set and we did a shoot with him.”
Beeba Boys opens in Toronto for a general run October 16. See review.
