Deepa Mehta is an Indo-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).

Mehta states : she really started watching and enjoying Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. She was also exposed to directors like Truffaut and Godard. There was also intense exposure to Japanese Cinema.

After graduating Mehta began working for a Production Company that made documentary and educational films for the Indian Government. During the production of her first feature-length documentary focusing on the working life of a child bride. She met and married Canadian documentary filmmaker Paul Saltzman, who was in India making a film. She migrated to Toronto to live with her husband in 1973.

In Canada, Mehata and Saltzman along with Mehta’s brother Dilip started Sunrise Films, a production company, initially producing documentaries but moved into television series “Spread Your Wings” (1977 – 79) about the creative and artistic work of young people from around the world. Mehta directed several episodes of the Saltzman produced CBC Drama Danger Bay (1984-90).

Mehta also directed the documentary “At 99 : A Portrit of Louise Tandy Murch” (1975). The film centres on Louise Tandy Murch, a 99-year-old retired music teacher who was still living independently in her own home. Louise Tandy Murch was the mother of painter Walter Tandy Murch, and the grandmother of Academy Award – winning film sound editor Walter Murch. The film was distributed primarily by broadcast on CBC Television in 1975, although it also had a theatrical screening at the inaugural 1976 Toronto International Film Festival. The film won the Canadian Film Award for Best Documentary Under 30 Minutes at the 26th Canadian Film Awards in 1975.

Mehta directed the documentary “Traveling Light” (1986.) Traveling light would to on to be nominated for three Gemini Awards. Screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, it would go on to win the Best Feature Film Award at the 11th International Film Festival in Florence in 1988.

In 1991 she made her feature-film directorial debut with “Sam & Me”, a story of the relationship between a young Indian boy and an elderly Jewish gentleman in the Toronto neighborhood of Parkdale. It broke the record at the time for the highest budgeted film directed by a woman in Canad at $11 million. It won Honorable Mention in the Camera d’Or category of the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

Camilla is a 1994 film directed by Mehta. It was Jessica Tandy’s penultimate film appearance and is dedicated to her memory. Tandy plays the title character, Camilla Cara, a former concert violinist. The film is not only and adventure-filled journey, but also a reconciling of the two women’s pasts and futures. In 2002, she directed Bollywood/Hollywood, for which she won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Mehta directed two episodes of George Lucas’ television series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”. The first episode, “Benares, January 1910”, aired in 1993. The second episode was aired in 1996 as a part of a TV movie titled Young Indiana Jones : Travels with Father.

Mehta directed several English language films set in Canada, including The Republic of Love (2003)and Heaven on Earth (2008) which deals with domestic violence and has Preity Zinta playing the female lead. It premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2008 Mehta produced documentary The Forgotten Woman, directed by her brother Dilip.

In 2016, Mehta wrote and directed Beeba Boys. It premiered at 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016, Mehta directed the drama film Anatomy of Voilence, which uses fiction to explore the root causes which led to the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder.

On 29 October 2020, Telefilm Canada announced that Mehta’s film Funny Boy (2020) would represent Canada in the Academy Awards race for best international feature film. The film was disqualified by the Academy Awards as its mix English, Sinhala and Tamil dialogue did not surpass the required percentage of non-English dialogue. At the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2001, Mehta won the Best Director Award for Funny Boy. She and Shyam Selvaderai also won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Fire is a 1996 Indo-Canadian erotic romantic drama film written and directed by Mehta. Fire follows the love affair between two sister-in-law whose own sexless marriage bring them together in a passionate romance. Internationally, the film was critically acclaimed and would go on to win the most popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. This was also the first feature length dramatic film which Mehta both wrote and directed, a practice which she would throughout the rest of her career.

Earth (Hindi: released in India as 1947:Earth) is a 1999 Indo-Canadian film directed by Mehta. It is based upon Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novel, Cracking India. Earth focuses on the time of before and during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and how the life of one family was uprooted by this historical event. The central focus for Earth was intended to be about “the division of the earth, but it is also metaphoric- what does our matrubhumi (motherland) mean to us”.

Water is a 2005 film written and directed by Mehta, with screenplay by Anurag Kashyap. It is set in 1938 and explores the lives of widows at an ashram in Varansi, India. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.

Mehta collaborated on screenplay for Midnight’s Children with the Novel’s author, Salman Rushdie. The film was released on 9 September 2012 at Toronto International Film Festival and would be nominated for Best Motion Picture along with 7 other nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Many of Mehta’s films across her career have focused on the duality of her national and cultural identity which has informed much of her filmmaking as she has been described as the “quintessential transnational filmmaker”.

Mehta’s work as an artist, as a progressive voice about social issues, and her generous mentorship have often been recognized. She is received numerous Honorary degrees and many awards and honors, among them: The Life of Distinction Award from the Canadian Centre of Diversity, The Excellence in the Arts Award from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Woman of Distinction, President’s Award from the YMCA. She is a recipient of the Governor General’s Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for film. Most recently, in 2012, Mehta was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest Civilian Honour, for her work as a “grounding Screenwriter, director, and producer”. She is also a recipient of the Province of Ontario’s highest Honour, the Order of Ontario.

Photo courtesy Google. Excerpts taken from Google.