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Deepa thrilled with Bangkok award for 'Water'
By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai, Feb 28 (IANS) "Water", which won the Golden Kinnaree award for the best film at the Bangkok Film Festival, is the first Hindi movie to have won the top honour at any international festival and Deepa Mehta is overwhelmed with joy. 
 
  

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"I am thrilled beyond words," said Deepa.

"And to think I almost didn't come for this," Deepa told IANS from Bangkok soon after receiving the coveted award Saturday night.

"I was just too tied up with a film's release. But I was told I had to be there. So I flew in just hours before the event. And when I saw how nice the jury members were being to me, I thought maybe 'Water' does stand a chance."

"And to think 'Water' was disowned as not being Indian or Hindu enough. I wanted 'Water' to be embraced by everyone, and it will be. I don't know what to call it though! Except a Hindi film because technically it isn't an Indian film (it's a Canadian production). And I'd never use the term cross-over for my cinema."

But crossing over is exactly what "Water" will be doing when it opens on April 28 all over the US in mainstream cinema halls. 

"We aren't talking about theatres where Indians largely attend. Yes, 'Water' has gone mainstream with an 80-print release all over the US. But before that we have a large release at the end of March in Spain and Australia in April," says Deepa.

The general view is that the film will be entered for the Oscars in the best foreign film and might just be the first Hindi film to win the award. 

In Bangkok, Deepa rubbed shoulders with some of cinema's greatest like Catherine Deneuve, Willem Dafoe and Charles Dance. 

Amol Palekar's "Paheli" also participated in the Bangkok film festival but in the non-competitive section.