UNITED KINGDOM: Despite protests, Brick Lane - the international best-seller turned into a movie - premieres in London

Record ID: 219363

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Despite protests, Brick Lane - the international best-seller turned into a movie - premieres in London
  • Date: 31st October 2007
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 26, 2007) (REUTERS) LILY ALLEN SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS ALLEN POSING FOR MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) LILY ALLEN, SAYING: "I read the book, a long time ago." (REPORTER ASKING: What did you think?) "I really really loved it."
  • Embargoed: 15th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA9XSVRYF2CN4VQRJ0DOMKCKHRH
  • Story Text: Despite a few obstacles, Monica Ali's best-selling novel adapted for the big screen "Brick Lane" premiered at the London Film Festival on Friday (October 26).
    Ali's debut novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom in 2003. Where her book follows the life of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi village girl who moves to London at age 17 for an arranged marriage to an older man, the film version chooses to focus on a single fateful year, 2001, to capture the essence of how Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee), now a mother of two daughters, finds her identity, her strength and her voice after years of self-sacrifice.
    Then everything changes for Nazneen when the passionate Karim (Christopher Simpson) enters her life. Nazneen had acquired a sewing machine, and Karim brings her work in the form of men's pants to stitch. He is much more assimilated into British culture yet is angry at the racial intolerance and anti-Muslim sentiment rife in that society.
    Hesitantly yet excitedly, Nazneen falls into an ardent affair with Karim. For a time, she and her sister no longer live such different lives. Can this love for Karim save her?
    "Brick Lane is very much a woman's story so I emotionally connect with material when I direct it and I felt enormously connect to this story because it's the story of Naznreen trying to find her place in the world," said Sarah Gavron, who made her feature film debut.
    Production was an uphill battle for cast and crew after protests from a few members of the Bengali community tried to halt filming. They were worried about the portrayal of the immigrant neighbourhood in east London. Gavron was forced to move parts of the set to a safer housing estate two miles away.
    But the film's lead character, played by Bengali-Indian actress Tannishtha Chatterjee said most of the people in the London's tight-knit Bengali neighbourhood backed the production.
    "We had a lot of support from the community and we couldn't have made this film without their support so of course people have the right to protest but we had a lot of support," said Tannishtha Chatterjee.
    In addition, the movie garnered a storm of publicity before it premiered in London after Prince Charles pulled out of a royal film performance, citing conflicting schedules. Distributors scrambled at the last minute to premiere the movie at the festival, a move which Gavron said was appropriate, given the film's setting.
    "It was a disappointment because we were very excited about the royals coming to the film that's about the world we live in today. However we're delighted to be at the London Film Festival because it's a movie about London, made in London so it's really the perfect platform for it," said Gavron.
    Satish Kaushik, a well-known comic actor and film director in India, is wonderfully cast as her husband, Chanu, a character of Dickensian richness. He is pompous and kind, full of plans that never pan out and convinced of future success when all signs indicate otherwise. Chanu is a poor match for his lovely and lonely wife. He is overweight, too old and exasperating yet completely unaware of any shortcomings: "For me, acting is a very passionate thing. So for me, drama is a challenge and playing Chanu in 'Brick Lane', he was such a multi-layered character," Kaushik told Reuters Television.
    Singer Lily Allen made an appearance with younger brother Alfie, who has come to be a celebrity in his own right since his the singer penned a track in his honour. Allen's mother was the producer behind the film and the singer said the family wanted to come down to show their support.
    Earlier in the week, Allen was scheduled to sing with producer Mark Ronson at a London gig but didn't show up saying: "I was never confirmed to do it. So people said I put my name on it and I was never officially asked."
    "Brick Lane" will be released across the United Kingdom on November 16.
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