Sony Classics: Touch of Pink Movie

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"Real life can’t and shouldn’t be like a Hollywood movie, and that’s the thrust of this film," says writer/director Ian Iqbal Rashid. "We’re bewitched by those images, the idea of happily ever after, that there’s one person out there who is meant for us. But most of us are also savvy enough to know that way of thinking really screws us up. We’re seduced by Hollywood values, yet we know they’re not good for us."

Sienna Film producers Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny first met Rashid on a trip to London, while financing their feature, "New Waterford Girl." "Touch of Pink" was still very much in its nascent stages, but the nature of the project made it a logical Canada-UK co-production and Martin Pope of Martin Pope Productions was the ideal UK producer. "Martin liked Ian’s writing and his understanding of how the mythology of Cary Grant and Hollywood fit into the main character’s world. We were all committed to keeping the film funny and accessible while exploring the ideas and themes Ian was working through," explains Kawaja.

"Touch of Pink" appealed to Kawaja and Sereny because it expanded on the themes which Sienna Films’ previous projects, "New Waterford Girl" and "Marion Bridge") had begun to explore. "All of these films deal with characters that are ultimately required to be true to themselves even though they are slightly out of step with the rest of the world around them," elaborates Sereny.

"Touch of Pink" pays homage to an old-fashioned screwball genre while planting its feet very much in the 21st century. The story rests on a ‘coming out’ conflict, but the larger theme pushes much further. Not only has Alim hidden his sexual identity from his mother, he’s virtually divorced himself from his family’s South Asian culture as well. The spirit of Cary Grant aids him in his efforts, as Cary’s frames of reference simply don’t include that culture. Ian Iqbal Rashid’s romantic comedy arrives at a fortuitous time for South Asian auteurs, on the heels of Gurinder Chadha’s Golden Globe-nominated "Bend It Like Beckham," Mira Nair’s "Monsoon Wedding," "The Guru," Deepa Mehta’s "Bollywood/Hollywood," "East is East," Asif Kapadia’s "The Warrior," and work by

M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense") and Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth," "Four Feathers"). "Cinema is such a huge part of the lives of people in and from the sub-continent," says Rashid. "Those of us who have migrated to the west have carried that love of cinema with us." However, "there’s a tight-rope walk between assimilating into Western culture, and yet keeping a sense of who you are,"

Rashid explains. "The process of assimilation can erase aspects of identity, both cultural and personal, which are special and unique. Yet, it’s very seductive to become part of a dominant culture, to belong to the home team – and ‘Touch of Pink’ is about that as well"

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