The underrated Tanuja Chandra has made some memorable movies in her time. She made this delicate, sensitive, but little-seen film about a Sikh family in the US after 9/11 called Hope & A Little Sugar, released in India on April 18, 2008, made this film as a message of hope. The underrated film features Anupam Kher and Mahima Chaudhary as a Sikh father and daughter coping with the trauma of losing a dear one.
Tanuja said the idea for the film came from the thought that something that happens thousands of miles away can come from the same emotions that we in India have experienced, and even after such deep-rooted hatred, forgiveness is possible. That human beings do have the capacity to love one another. The subject of 9/11 is a deeply complex issue, and movies necessarily need to take sides in order to be effective. That makes this a difficult subject to tackle. More than being formalistic, stories about 9/11 have, over the years, caused a kind of emotional fatigue in people because their images are among the most visible in recent history. The only way to touch upon the issue in any significant manner is to make movies with some complexity and that doesn’t always work with audiences.
Said Tanuja to this writer during the time of release, “It feels good because it’s my first English language film and it addresses itself to the anguish of an Indian family in the US dealing with the situation after 9/11. The award for best film at the film festival is conducted entirely through audience choice. It feels good because it’s the US audience that has voted for my film.”
Tanuja was happy to have made a film outside her linguistic domain. “Hope & A Little Sugar is special because it takes me beyond the space I’m used to. It was liberating to make an English-language film. There was no pressure of commercial constraints at all. I felt far more relaxed without having to bother about the box office. It was a relief to work with professionals for a change. Everything from production to marketing to release is being handled with utmost briskness. No hanky panky, no goof-ups. Their way of functioning is so different from our ‘chalta hai’ attitude to filmmaking. Out here, you have to fight every step of the way. With Hope & A Little Sugar, I just had to focus on making the film. Everything else was taken care of.”
The film, described by Tanuja as “crossover in every sense”, is about the scenario in the US post-9/11. “The cast was a delight. We could finish the film in record time only because the actors valued time and money. To me it was very exciting to do a film that addresses itself to an audience that’s American and Indian. We went from Mumbai to the US, made the film for American producers. It’s a Muslim-Sikh love story.”
