Little Zizou premiered on November 9 in New York to a pair of prestigious prizes. Time Warner Award for Best Screenplay and Best Director. “I was overwhelmed by the warmth with which Zizou was received by audiences,” Sooni Taraporevala says. “The awards were cherries on a very sweet and wonderful cake.”

Produced by Mira Nair and The Indian Film Company, with flashes of magical realism, Zizou tells a bittersweet story. Of an 11-year-old football fan who invests his dead mother with touching powers. Believing she can bring French soccer star Zinedine Zidane (Zizou) to Mumbai, he clings to the faith that she performs miracles for him.
Disarmingly modest, Little Zizou’s 51-year-old creator laughs off praise for her versatility. Salted almond eyes turn tawny, flecked by a high noon sun over Mumbai’s midtown Breach Candy Club pool – where she swims to unwind from wearing so many hats. And Sooni says, with simple, signature understatement, “Life’s been interesting.”

There’s mounting excitement before Zizou opens here in February. How does it feel?
I’m a crazy mix of happy and apprehensive, before taking my baby out into the world.
The ideal scenario is what every director imagines – that the film receives fine critical response and box-office benefit. Salaam Bombay gave me confidence and a career. Twenty years after I scripted it, there are obviously greater expectations from me.

Have you become something of a community chronicler, capturing the Parsis on camera and now film?
Zizou is a fond tribute to my community. The affection came after I left for the US, from 1975 to 1982 and again, 1988 to 1993. Till I got there I didn’t believe you could actually get grades for seeing films! It was from that distance I started looking back.
Growing up in Bombay in a Parsi neighbourhood never felt being part of a minority. This both works and goes against us. Unlike other religions, we have no high priest dictating terms. As a result, sometimes there’s anarchy. I prefer that. Controversies and infighting are amusing, yet distressing. They reveal a racist, sexist, exclusivist people. Mine is a comic take on serious issues.

A photographer and scriptwriter first, you must be a visually driven director.
My education was watching and analysing films. Screenwriting has been self-taught. Both inspire characters and narrative while making a film. Once shooting began, I was in the moment, thinking on my feet – much like still photography. I love being able to fuse different talents.

What was the directorial process like as an experience?
Directing has proved to be a huge learning curve. It’s like commanding an army, having gathered the troops. I’ve also felt like a lumbering Mughal elephant, watching all the madness around! For a debut director I was blessed with dream conditions: an A-list cast, top-of-the-line crew and equipment, wonderful assistants who ran the set and left me time to be creative.

Actors credit you for being open to suggestion and nurturing in your directorial style.
I’ve tried. What you’ll see are natural performances. “But nobody’s acting” might well be the reaction. I had certain actors in mind when I wrote: Boman Irani, John Abraham, Sohrab Ardeshir, Shernaz Patel, Kunal Vijaykar, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, Imaad Shah.
My goal was to keep actors as comfortable as possible, on and off camera. Not being rigid with them helped. If everyone involved has had a good experience, that’s Little Zizou’s biggest success.

From Salaam Bombay itself, you locked into scripting vignettes about childhood.
I’ve always felt close to the world of childhood. Maybe I never grew up! I’m attracted to the beauty and complexity of everything related to children.
Right from formative years in Queen Mary’s School where an outstanding influence was my English teacher Rati Wadia.... In literature my favourite poets were the Romantics. In film it’s been Truffaut’s Small Change, Fellini’s Amarcord. Recently, I enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. My contemporary fiction choices are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Vikram Seth and Jhumpa Lahiri.

Does a better understanding of kids flow in your work, now that you have your own?
As a person, I’ve become more rounded and grounded since having my kids (Jahan, 12 and Iyanah, 10).
The way Zizou’s young characters behave and speak is directly taken from how I’ve observed them. But then I wrote Salaam Bombay when I wasn’t a mother.

Can you explain the film described as part-fable, part-fantasy.
There are strong beliefs. I person-ally feel that when people closest to you pass away, they are never lost. Still around, they guide you as you live. Zizou’s mother dies when he’s born. The film explores his relationship with her. It’s about the necessity of love and the possibility of grace. This is a very Indian feeling. Abroad they don’t even really acknowledge death.
I lived in an extended family. An aunt, my mother’s sister, Coomi Engineer, died just before the film was finished. She was crazy about the movies, made sure she saw everything that came out of a reel. Zizou is dedicated to acknowledge people like her looking after me from up above.

How do you see cinema in India these days?
Oh, it’s absolutely the ripest, most exciting time to be in cinema in India today. Everything’s vibrant, definitely more optimistic and hopeful. Film companies are booming, the multiplex culture is buzzing with all kinds of small-budget experimentation in genres. Comedies seem to be the flavour of the month for a while, though sensitive subjects are shared alternatively.

What place most inspires your work?
Mumbai is my life, my jaan. Unique in contradictions, it crackles with a brilliant energy. Like New York, it’s representative of so many ethnic groups that you find the complete country in it. Every Indian state is represented here (and always will be) despite some people’s efforts to the contrary.
With a first draft written within 10 days in June 2005, then 17 more over two years, Zizou’s shot entirely on location in Mumbai. At Gowalia Tank where I grew up, the Bandra seafront, Dadar Parsi Colony and a printing press in Parel.

You were in New York when Barack Obama’s win was announced. Does any politician fascinate you enough to make a film?
We were so lucky to be in NYC on such a historic occasion. The nervousness, the elation, was wild! In one stroke the world has become a safer place. Obama’s victory represents the best of America, Bush the worst. But every country has extremes, India too.
I’ve had my share of writing about political figures, with nine years on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. I think he was an amazing man. It was my most challenging script.

Would you focus in future on directing films you write, or scripting for director friends like Mira (Nair)?
Right now, I plan to give Little Zizou my all to bring it out into the world. After that, Allah jaane (God knows)!

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