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Hurray for Bollywood >> Emotional masala in Desperately Seeking Helen by MATTHEW HAYS
Marjara has taken the tragedy and used it as inspiration for a feature-length experimental documentary titled Desperately Seeking Helen. Those looking for conventional, tried-and-true, safe cinematic treatments of events would do best to look elsewhere. Marjara effectively blows up the rule book with Helen, taking bits and pieces of her personal life and attaching them with fragments of pop culture, both Indian and Western. Marjara maps out her personal journey in the form of a quest: she ventures to India in search of Helen, a mythical, immensely popular figure in Bollywood's considerable star system. The film cuts back to memories of her childhood, her mother and other influences. Ultimately, Desperately Seeking Helen is about Marjara laying her subconscious bare. A stark and unsettling account of her emotional makeup, Marjara's footage is so strikingly intimate; there is footage of her emaciated body, taken when she was an adolescent anorexic. By this point the film takes on a rather unapologetic filmmaking-as-therapy sensibility. Marjara's meditation on role models and personal loss is a courageous film, for sure. It may not go down in cinematic history as the greatest documentary ever made, but it does mark a significant spot in the history of the NFB, the crown corporation that backed it. The film grew out of the Fast Forward program, launched a few years back to fend off criticism that the Board desperately needed new blood. Young filmmakers with new ideas were offered several years of salary, film stock and mentoring by older NFB types (many of whom were promptly laid off in another round of cuts). Apparently, Marjara's wildly offbeat treatment of her story ruffled the feathers of some NFB brass, who now appear to be favouring more standard, TV-friendly fare. It's a pity: the NFB does best when it takes risks, something Marjara does here. Sadly, at a time when public support for institutions like the NFB and CBC is waning, Desperately Seeking Helen stands as a symbol of an era gone by. Desperately Seeking Helen screens Sat, March 27 to Tues, March 30 at the NFB; 7:30pm
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For filmmaker Eisha Marjara, the 1985 Air India disaster was one of the most horrific landmarks in her life. Both Marjara's mother and sister were on board the flight, which proved to be fatal for all 300-odd passengers and crew.