Life and times of Kiran Rao

At the lawns of a water-front hotel in Fort Kochi, Kiran Rao relaxes, sipping coffee. Clad elegantly in a white top and orange skirt, the petite producer-director and wife of Aamir Khan, had earlier in the day visited Aspinwall, the main venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. “I missed the inaugural edition two years ago, so decided to come this time,” she says.

Admitting she is an art buff, she tries to catch as many shows as she can. “Most of the galleries are in South Mumbai so it becomes a little difficult. But I try to check out as much as I can physically as well as online.”

Originally from Karnataka, Kiran is familiar with places bordering Kerala like Gudalur and Ooty and has done the customary backwater trip in Kumarakom but has never really explored God’s Own Country. “My exposure to Malayalam is only through watching Mollywood movies. Around five years ago, a friend introduced me to this wonderful filmmaker of the ’80s called Padmarajan,” she says.

Any progress on her idea of making a film on Gauhar Jaan, the nautch girl? “She was a highly accomplished artiste who was the first Indian singer whose voice was recorded on a disc. A woman of Armenian origin, she knew some 17 languages and was greatly respected. I am yet to come to grips with the subject that is so fascinating and figure out a way of narrating her story. I don’t want to do a typical biopic.” Who will she cast as Gauhar? “Casting would be tricky. She was not pretty in a conventional sense. She was stout but very striking,” she says.

Though thrilled with the success of Aamir Khan’s PK, she admits that she was worried when there were protests. “I agree that it is a subversive film. It brought up many issues to the forefront. And Raju (Hirani) instead of soft pedaling the issue went for the jugular. But if people disagree with a film, they should do so in a civilised way. Ironically, people who are affected by it are mostly people who had made religion a business. On the other hand, the sections that provide solace in the name of religion are not affected by it.” What is it like to have two creative individuals in the same house?

“One of the binding agents is that both of us are interested in the same things in cinema. That is why our company functions. After Azad was born, we only did Satyameva Jayate. I didn’t participate much because he was small, but now that he has grown up a little, we will start producing again. We have worked out a way in which there are certain projects of his in which I am only peripherally involved in and vice versa.” While leaving she asks where she can get a good traditional Kerala sadya. “I am a vegetarian you see, so I can’t relish the sea food.”