On the sidelines of his latest project in Mumbai, one of Iran's most acclaimed directors talks about his nation's resilience, why cinematic trends don't bother him, and why his Prophet film fell prey to Saudi Arabia's needless politicking
Vishwas Kulkarni (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 5, 2017)

At the fag end of Yari Road, well past its tiny bylanes and faux-bohemian cafés, is a makeshift football field, abutting the shanties of Versova fishing village. The football field also doubles up as a garbage dump; an ecosystem of stray dogs, pigs, storks, and a murder of crows are in perfect harmony. A thin gaggle of delighted residents of all age groups have gathered to watch the shooting of Beyond The Clouds, a film by Iranian auteur Majid Majidi. Everyone likes a slice of tinsel town.

Three make-up vans together make a border between the dump and a sandpit, which, in turn, has been converted into an ersatz Dhobi Ghat. Triangles of bamboo sticks hold up undulating, defiled sheets of cloth (“a section of the original Dhobi Ghat in Mahalaxmi didn't work for us, so we are recreating it here,“ explains producer Shareen Mantri of Eyecandy Films). On arriving, we are immediately corralled in a makeup van and offered beverages. “I think it's better for you to be here, it's too hot outside,“ says the PR agent. However, the air-conditioner is not working, so we step out with some club soda.

“Mr Majidi will be ready shortly, but may not be ready for photographs, mind you,“ says the PR agent. The sun is about to set and a camera crane hovers above the post-apocalyptic terrain.“Where is Mr Majidi by the way?“ “He's in the blue tent,“ says the PR agent. “Is that Boman Irani playing cricket?“ “No, but everyone seems to think he is and everyone calls him Boman Irani! Isn't that hilarious!“ says Mantri. The Boman Irani lookalike is incidentally Mr Majidi's assistant, and someone who has taken a liking to gully cricket. “This is the first time that Majid Majidi is working with an all-Indian crew. It's a very special film,“ she adds. At some point, before our interview with Mr Majidi, we also meet Kishor Arora, co-producer of Beyond the Clouds. “How is it to work with the auteur?“ we ask him. “Hum sirf maang sangte hain. Lekin deta toh uparwaala hee hain.“ (Us mortals can merely ask, but only the Almighty can grant you your wish.)

We enter the blue tent. On the table are half a dozen boxes from what appears to be a neighbourhood bakery. “Oh, no, I'm on a diet,“ I plead. “No, it's not a cake, it's a samosa!“ says someone from the production team. Mr Majidi, 58, and his translator, Jawad Askari, 67, are delighted to meet Mumbai Mirror again; the duo has incidentally met us in 2010.

For a man who is a star in many worlds, Majidi, with his beige cap, black casual tee, military green trousers, thick moustache and a never-ending supply of Marlboro Lights, exudes a disarming air that belongs more to a 'Visit Iran' brochure than an elite film club. As part of a post-Islamic Revolution generation of filmmakers, the man heralded a new era in Persian cinema. His 1998 film, Children of Heaven, was the first Iranian film to have then been nominated for Best Foreign Picture at the Oscars. In addition, his 2002 documentary, Barefoot To Berat, dealt with the plight of Afghan refugees in the wake of America's ill-fated 2001 military offensive. His last film, Muhammad: Messenger of God (2015), was hailed as “intellectually honest, committed and poetic“ by Phil Hoad in The Guardian, but also earned him a fatwa from the Mumbai-based Raza Academy and brickbats from Sunni quarters of the Middle East. Were the more artistic virtues of his operatic oeuvre lost in the Sunniversus-Shia polemic? “My last film focuses on the childhood part of Mohammed. I made this film precisely to give a very clear picture of Islam, to erase the misconception that it is a violent religion. But to my shock, Saudi Arabia and Egypt picked up a point and tried to accuse me of making something un-Islamic. I request their knowledgeable priests to watch this film and tell me what is so objectionable about my film. Let me be very clear: their approach to this was purely political. And I am of the firm belief that Islam teaches you to respect everyone.“

Yet, for all his good intentions, does it sometimes get tiresome to come from Iran, a nation that is always threatening to emerge from the shroud of sanctions, only to slide back into isolation? How does Mr Majidi negotiate his Iranian identity in a world fraught with Islamophobia? “Our biggest crime is that we want to be independent, but we always have to face hurdles. History shows us that Iranians do not give in so easily. We hate to be governed by any other country. We are considered to be rich, based on the oil and gas that we have, but our main power lies with our own ambitions, our desire to work hard. Thirty-seven years of sanctions have not crushed us. On the contrary, such oppression has only made our resolve stronger.“ Yet, doesn't Iran also play a part in the unending, and sometimes horrific, sectarian violence that has balkanised the Middle East? Will the nightmare ever end? “Other countries do follow a formula of dividing the region. I'd love to bring forth an important point here: 10 per cent of Iranians are Sunnis and there is never a tussle between Sunnis and Shias in Iran.“

The atmosphere in the blue tent has darkened, even though Mr Majidi and his translator seem perfectly chatty; Mantri, who so far was part of the delegation that entered the tent at the beginning of our interview, is fuming and storms out. It's like a UN refugee crisis meeting that has gone wrong. “Can we steer the conversation towards the film, please?“ says a second PR agent seated to my right. Sure. How is it to be working with an all-Indian production? “I have long cherished the desire to make a film in India and the team that I have found here is excellent. Work is progressing rather well. My current film follows the same skein of thought that informed my earlier cinema; it carries the message of humanity, of love, of bringing people closer to each other.“

Coming from the second wave of Iranian cinema (post-Islamic Revolution), a movement that brought Iranian cinema to the world stage, what does he think of the metastasising influence of digital cinema. After all, a younger, brasher generation with their nano-cameras and what have you is forever threatening to take over the world. “As far as I am concerned, I am still absorbed by my own concerns as an artist. New trends do not bother me. Despite technological progress, the soul of a film will always be the message it carries, the story.“

What has been his most inspiring moment whilst shooting in Maximum City? “One day, on location [at Babulnath, we are later informed], I saw a three-to four-year-old girl. She impressed me a lot. Her name is Asha and she is playing a pivotal role in my film. I did cast some children via a child casting agent, but this chance encounter has changed my film. It's exactly the face that I require, I realised. She is at present creating some of the best moments in our film. I had an extraordinary realization that she is the one. She has a charisma that I cannot express in words. Besides, her English is as good as mine!“ he laughs. Mantri is back in the tent: “I think the girl can be a separate story altogether,“ she interjects.

The interview ends with Mr Majidi telling us that his favourite Hindi word, one that he has picked up on his Mumbai sojourn, is “chalo“. We tell him that it seems that our “chalo, chalo“ moment has indeed arrived and we all cackle as we step out of the tent into the lavender of a Versova dusk. Outside, the PR agent is huddled by the clotheslines, and visibly worried. “Look, the producers really don't want any of that Sunni-Shia stuff, yaar. We don't want any trouble. Can you please, please, please leave that bit out?“ Our larger concern though is getting a photograph of the genius. In the gloaming, there seems to be little chance of this. “There is no light, you see,“ says the PR agent. “Why don't we shoot him on the set tomorrow and email you a photograph instead? Besides, he may not want to be shot. Listen, I'm being bitten by red ants here. Can't we just do the shoot tomorrow?“ When we ask Mr Majidi, who comes from a tradition of experimental theatre, he is only too happy to strike a pose. After all, who would know better than him that all you need to put up a good show is a star and an unfurling piece of cloth.

Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; April 7, 2016)

Taran N Khan (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 20, 2015)

Celebrated Iranian director Majid Majidi, whose film Muhammad: The Messenger of God has landed in trouble in India - earning him and its music director A R Rahman a fatwa from a Mumbai-based Sunni organisation - has strongly defended the film, Rahman, and the need to present Islam in a new light. In an exclusive interview to Taran N Khan for Mumbai Mirror, Majidi, known across the world for his moving portraits of childhood, like the acclaimed Children of Heaven and The Colour of Paradise, said he is surprised that people have raised objections, even demanded a ban, without watching the movie.

Mumbai-based Raza Academy has objected to physical representation of the Prophet, which many Muslims consider taboo, in Majidi's movie, and demanded that Rahman read the kalmas again and re-solemnise his marriage to make amends. Last week, the group wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking a ban on the film. Some clerics at Egypt's Al Azhar University too have sought a ban.

Speaking extensively about how the film, first of a planned trilogy, was made and the many hurdles it faced, the director clarified that at no point in the film is the Prophet's face revealed. "You only see his hands and feet in the cradle as a baby, and as a child from the back," he said.

Referring to Rahman as one of the best musicians in the world, Majidi said that apart from his creativity, the other most important thing for him was that Rahman is an observant Muslim. "And so I thought he can touch the spirit of the film better than anyone else."

Majidi said even when they were recording for the film with an orchestra in Berlin, Rahman would take breaks to offer his prayers.

The film is set in the sixth century and made on a budget of around $35 million, Iran's most expensive production yet. It is also only the second major film to take on the subject, after the 1977 The Message by Moustapha Akkad. Stressing on the need for a new film on the Prophet, Majidi said there have been around 200 films made on Jesus Christ and around 120 on Moses. "Even the other prophets have nearly 70 films made on them.There are 42 films made on the Buddha. For the prophet of Islam, there are only two. I would invite all the religious figures who have condemned the film to first watch it, including the leaders in India. I am sure if they see it with honesty and without pre-judgement, they will love the film."

What was the idea behind making Muhammad: The Messenger of God? What is the main message of this film?
In recent years, there have been many wrong interpretations of Islam in the Western world. They have made very harsh references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, for example through the 2005 cartoons in Denmark. At the same time, in Islamic countries, we have seen the rise of extremist groups like Taliban and more recently the Daesh (IS), who have performed acts of terrible violence. They have also created a very horrible image and imagination of Islam in the eyes of the world. All these actions, I feel, are not related to Islam or to the Prophet Muhammad. They are just taking advantage of the name of Islam. I decided to make this film to give the right information and interpretation, and correct the image of Islam. The real idea of Islam is kindness and morality, and respect for human values. If I were to put the film's message in one sentence, it is to show that Islam is the religion of kindness, peace and love.

What were the key challenges you faced while making the film?
For making a film of this scale, there were many problems of administration and logistics that had to be overcome. About 40 per cent of the story takes place in Mecca in the 6th century. So we had to recreate the city to what it would have been 1400 years ago. Added to that was the problem that we didn't have enough sources, not even paintings from that period to help us in this process. We tried to make the location as historically accurate as possible. And now the location can be used by other Islamic countries to make their own productions. (A large part of the film was shot at a specially constructed location called 'Prophet Muhammad Cinematic City', 80 km from Tehran).

Besides this, in other locations we had problems with constructions, with providing costumes and animals, transporting elephants and handling the huge number of people on the shoot, as some days we had nearly 3000 extras present on the site.

On the other hand, we benefited from some wonderful collaborations with people from across the world, including Italy, the USA, England, Germany, India, Serbia and so on. While the film was an Iranian production, it saw a creative collaboration of artists from different countries. So it was a very difficult process, but everything went well!

Who was the audience you had in mind when you thought of making the film?
From the very beginning, I was planning to make it a film for people around the world. At the same time, I have tried to make a film that can overcome the differences between different Islamic groups, like Shias and Sunnis. For this reason I have used all historical resources, from Sunni and Shia references alike, so the film can create a feeling of unification between them. I believe the film can change the way Western audiences feel towards Islam and it can also be a bridge between different Islamic countries. The film has also given respect to other religions like Christianity and Judaism.


How did you get the idea of asking A R Rahman to contribute to the music?
Rahman is one of the best musicians in the world and I was familiar with his work as a composer. He is very creative and the most important thing for me was that he is also a believing Muslim. And so I thought he can touch the spirit of the film better than anyone else. I believe he has done exceptional work on this film, and others who have heard it also feel that it is unique. When the music is released, it will be very well received as he has used all his talents.

I feel Rahman is not only a great musician, but a great spirit. One of the best days of our working together over the past two years came when we were recording with the orchestra in Berlin. At the time of prayer, he stopped his work and offered his prayers. He gave it priority even when working with the orchestra. I learned a lot from Rahman because he respects human values. He is not only my friend but my brother.

What is the response to the film so far in Iran? When can we hope to see it in other countries too?
The film was released in Iran on August 29 and has had a great reception ever since. So far it has been seen by over a million people, which is unique in the history of cinema in Iran till date. It will most likely set a new record at the box office and it looks like it will continue in the theaters for another five months. We are hopeful of releasing it in other countries soon and are already in discussions and negotiations with agents across the world. We hope to release it in India too once we find the right distributor.

What is your response to the controversies around the film, for example the fatwa in India?
Unfortunately, some religious leaders have asked people to boycott the film, as they believe it is not according to the spirit of Islam. I want to ask them, how can they give these opinions or voice such demands when they have not watched the film yet? I also want to ask them: then how should we introduce real Islam to the world? Other religions have made many films on their leaders. There have been around 200 films made on Jesus Christ. On Moses, 120 films. Even the other prophets have nearly 70 films made on them. There are 42 films made on the Buddha. For the prophet of Islam, there are only two. One is called Al Risala (The Message) and was made nearly 40 years ago by the late Moustapha Akkad. The other is mine. I would invite all the religious figures who have condemned the film to first watch it, including the leaders in India. I am sure if they see it with honesty and without pre-judgement, they will love the film.

People have objected to physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the film ...
I have avoided showing the face of the face of the Prophet, which is not seen anywhere in the film. You only see his hands and feet in the cradle as a baby, and as a child from the back. I based this on the opinions of many religious scholars and religious leaders who I consulted, both Sunnis and Shias, and who agreed that it is not a problem as I am not showing the face of the Prophet.

Your message to audiences in India?
I love India and also Indians. I feel there are so many similarities between our countries, which is why I am planning to make my next project in India. I hope to do two productions there in the next two years. I know that Indians and people working in Indian cinema industry know me and my work, and I am grateful for their kindness and attention. Because of my feelings for India, I feel we will be able to do remarkable collaborations.

DNA (September 16, 2015)


In a letter written to the Academy on his Facebook account, the Grammy award-winning composer says, “I am not a scholar of Islam. I follow the middle path and am part traditionalist and part rationalist. I live in the Western and Eastern worlds and try to love all people for what they are, without judging them.” He says he has not produced the movie only done the music.

In his message, Rahman quotes Noori from an interview to a journal saying that all Muslims have to do something about the movie because if and when they meet Allah and he asks them what they did to stop the movie, they will not have an answer. To this Rahman says, “My decision to compose the music for this film was made in good faith and with no intention of causing offence. In fact the decision was based on a similar point of view as expressed by Mr Noori. What, and if, I had the good fortune of facing Allah and he were to ask me on judgment day. ‘I gave you faith, talent, money, fame and health... why did you not do music for my beloved Muhammad (sals) film? A film whose intention is to unite humanity, clear misconceptions and spread my message that life is about kindness.”

He further says that we are blessed to live in a country like India where religious freedom is practised. “Let us set a precedent in clearing conflict with grace and dignity and not trigger violence in words or actions.” Kudos to Rahman.

Niharika Lal & Divya Kaushik (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 14, 2015)

A R Rahman, who was supposed to perform at an event in the city yesterday, cancelled the gig at the last minute

Though the organizers claimed the cancellation was due to 'unfortunate circumstances', a source told us, "He cancelled it because of the fatwa issue. Ab yahan aayenge to media fatwa ke baare mein sawaal puchegi."

A Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim group recently issued a fatwa against Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi (of Children Of Heaven fame) and Rahman for the film Muhammad: Messenger Of God. The film's music is by Rahman and is first of the trilogy on the life of Prophet Mohammad. The group also wrote to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking a ban on the movie.

Though the organizing committee of the event confirmed that the reason behind Rahman's no-show was the fatwa, a member from Rahman's team said, "We had to cancel our visit to Delhi owing to Rahman's work commitments. He is travelling to Europe for work and could not be in Delhi. We are not releasing any official statement on this so far."