As the upcoming Abhay Deol starrer film ‘Spin’ celebrates the Indo-American culture, the director of the film Manjari Makijany says she looks at it as an opportunity to break all the stereotype that has been shown on-screen about Indian culture, community and also feels responsible to present the whole ‘eclectic fusion’ of Indian American culture the right way.
Manjari told IANS: “When I came on board for directing Spin I felt responsible and excited at the same time. Excited because it is one of the great opportunities for me as an Indian filmmaker to show our culture and portray the right representation of the next generation Indian-American community to the international audience, to the Disney fans.
“I also felt responsible because it is a chance to break all the stereotype that is showcased about Indian community, culturally. I wanted to get those nuances right. For instance, Abhay is playing an Indian immigrant, I made sure his character doesn’t speak with a fake American accent! From production design, cinematography and every other department in the making of the film, I attempted to include diversity.”
The story revolves around 15-year-old Rhea.She is of Indian descent, born and brought up in America, surrounded by her American friends. Eventually, she falls in love with her school friend Max, who is also a DJ, and realise that she too, has a natural talent in music and creating music.”
After the release of the trailer, according to the director, she received a lot of messages from the South Asian DJ community and youngsters who are eagerly waiting to watch how the story unfolds.
As the music plays a crucial part in the story, Manjari said, “There are two generations existing in the same story, right? So we also tried to show that in the narrative musically.
“In one of the sequences, Rhea’s grandmother is dancing to old Hindi film song ‘Jab Chhaye’ and in the end, there is a celebration song created by Indian music director duo — Salim Suleiman. There are other music tracks that are sounding very young and fresh because our protagonist wishes to become a DJ!
“My responsibility as a film director was to get this very eclectic fusion in the right way.”
‘Spin’, featuring Abhay Deol, Avantika, and Meera Sayal, releases on August 15 on Disney International HD and Disney+ Hotstar Premium.