Majid
On
Casting
Malavika
Mohanan
Majidi wanted
an
Indian
face
for
his
film
and
found
Mohanan
perfect
for
Tara's
role.
"Malavika's
face
was
very
important
for
me
because
I
wanted
an
Indian
face,
especially
for
international
audiences
to
have
this
immediate
impression
that
she
is
from India.
"First,
we
shot
the
scenes
out
of
the
jail,
and
then
after
one
month,
I
told
her
she
has
to
lose
weight.
She
had
to
be
thin
for
the
portion
inside
the
jail
and
she
worked
hard
to
do
that."
Majid
On
His
First
Meeting
With
Ishaan
When
Majidi
first
saw
the
audition
footage
of
Ishaan
for
"Beyond
the
Clouds",
he
liked
it
and
thought
of
meeting
him
in
person.
In
the
first
meeting,
the
director,
however,
was
not
very
impressed
with
the
aspiring
actor.
"The
first
time
I
met
Ishaan,
(he)
was
(wearing)
a
sporty
T-shirt,
(had)
muscles
and
was
trying
to
sit
in
a
very
macho
way.
I
looked
at
him
and
said,
'Your
face
is
working,
but
I
have
a
big
problem
with
your
body.
Tone
down
your
body,
reduce
the
muscles.
"Next
time,
he
wore
a
large
T-shirt
and
sat
with
a
hunch."
Struggling
People
Are
My
Heroes
The
Iranian director has
always
been
fascinated
with
Ray's
cinematic
outlook
and
how
his
heroes
come
from
everyday
life,
something
that
he
feels
is
missing
in Indian
cinema today.
"Satyajit Ray's films had
an
effect
on
me.
(They
inspired
me)
to
follow
a
certain
interpretation
of
life.
And
(I
would
like)
to
influence
younger
generation.
In
'Pather
Panchali',
there
is
a
respect
that
he
has
for
his
hero,
even
in
the
poverty.
His
heroes
come
from
this
class
of
society
and
they
are
trying
for
life," Majidi told PTI in
an
interview.
"Struggling
people
are
my
heroes.
I
am
not
glorifying
poverty,
it
is
bad.
(But)
I
believe
that
a
person
has
a
lot
of
interior
values
that
we
do
not
see,"
he
adds.
Majid
Feels
India
Is
Close
To
Iran
The director says
it
was
a
dream
come
true
to
set
one
of
his films in
India,
which
he
believes,
is
culturally
very
close
to Iran.
"I
always
wanted
to
make
a
film
in India as
it
is
a
dramatic
country
with
dramatic
locations.
The
streets
and
the
alleys
of Bombay are
full
of
stories,
something
that
you
can't
find
anywhere
else.
I
always
wondered
why
we
do
not
see
such
kind
of
stories
in Indian
cinema.Apart
from Satyajit Ray, Shyam
Benegal and
Mira
Nair,
you
rarely
find
these
stories
in
the
cinema
here."