 |
 |
|
|
RAGING AGAINST THE RAJ Most actresses will tell you that filming a sex scene is the least sexy thing you can do with your clothes off short of a gynecologist exam. So pity Sakina Jaffrey, who recently lost her sex scene virginity in front of not only the ususal crowd of techies but also her own mother, veteran actress Madhur Jaffrey. As the smoldering home wrecker Rosie in the new Merchant Ivory production, Cotton Mary, Sakina carries on a tryst in postindependence India with a married BBC reporter (James Wilby) until their love nest is invaded by the title character, a meddling houseservant played by Madhur, Sakina is matter-of-fact about the necessary mechanics: "Well, I'd rather flash my mother than anybody else's mother," the New York-based actress says with a laugh, "but I was panicked, because I'd never done a sex scene before, and I had to be able to say to James, 'Yo, baby, I got what your white boy wants.' "Directed by Ismail Merchant, from a script that the Jaffreys had nursed through development for six years, Cotton Mary examines the effects of India's independence upon its Anglo-Indian community, which inherited a legacy of placelessness form the Raj. Mother and daughter play aunt and niece. "This was a time I remember from my childhood, and I saw what happened to the Anglo-Indians," says the Delhi-born Madhur. "That frustration of who we are, that frustration of identity, is what makes Cotton Mary go mad." Madhur, who is also a world-respected chef, began her working relationship with Merchant Ivory in 1965's Shakespeare Wallah. She teams up with her daughter again in the upcoming Chutney Popcorn, in which the younger Jaffrey plays "another nauseating good girl," as Sakina puts it cheekily. "I loved being Rosie, because I usually never get to play the bad girl." JESSICA WINTER Madhur
Jaffrey (right) and her daughter Sakina play Anglo-Indian women exploited
by colonialism in Cotton Mary. Photo: Kevin MacKintosh For the print article check out the March 2000 issue of Interview magazine |
