Deepa Mehta Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta in 2005
Born	(1950-09-15) 15 September 1950 (age 74) Amritsar, East Punjab, India
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, film producer
Years active	1976–present
Known for	Elements Trilogy
Spouse(s)	Paul Saltzman (m. 1973; div. 1983) David Hamilton (– present)
Children	Devyani Saltzman (daughter)
Relatives	Dilip Mehta (brother)

Deepa Mehta (born September 15, 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter. She is famous for her Elements Trilogy, a series of three films: Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).

Her film Water was nominated for an Academy Award. This made it one of the few Canadian films not in French to be chosen for this honor.

In 1996, she started a company called Hamilton-Mehta Productions with her husband, producer David Hamilton. She has won many awards for her work. In 2012, she received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, which is Canada's highest honor for artists.

Early Life and Education
Filmmaking Career
- Starting in Canada
- Major Films and Recognition
The Elements Trilogy
Midnight's Children
Themes in Her Films
Personal Life
Filmography
See also

Early Life and Education

Deepa Mehta was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Her city was near the border with Pakistan. She grew up hearing stories about the Partition of India, a time when British India was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. This event had a big impact on her.

When she was a child, her family moved to New Delhi. Her father was a film distributor, which meant he helped get movies into theaters. Mehta went to a boarding school called Welham Girls High School. Later, she studied Philosophy at the University of Delhi.

Watching different kinds of movies inspired her to become a filmmaker. She enjoyed Indian movies, but also films from famous directors like Satyajit Ray from India, and François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard from France.

Filmmaking Career

After college, Mehta worked for a company that made documentaries for the Indian government. While making her first documentary, she met and married Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman. In 1973, she moved to Toronto, Canada.

Starting in Canada

In Canada, Mehta, her husband, and her brother Dilip started a company called Sunrise Films. They made documentaries and a TV show called Spread Your Wings. Mehta also directed episodes of the popular Canadian TV show Danger Bay.

In 1991, she directed her first feature film, Sam & Me. It was about the friendship between a young Indian boy and an elderly Jewish man in Toronto. At the time, it had the biggest budget for a film directed by a woman in Canada.

In 2002, she directed Bollywood/Hollywood, a fun movie that mixed styles from Indian and American films. She won a Genie Award for writing the movie's script.

Major Films and Recognition

Mehta has directed many films in English that are set in Canada. These include The Republic of Love (2003) and Heaven on Earth (2008). Heaven on Earth is a serious film about problems within a marriage.

In 2015, she wrote and directed Beeba Boys, a crime drama. In 2020, her film Funny Boy was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards. However, it was not allowed to compete because it had too much English dialogue for the Best International Feature Film category. Still, Mehta won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director for the film.

The Elements Trilogy

Mehta is most famous for her Elements Trilogy. The three films—Fire, Earth, and Water—are connected by themes, not by story. They explore important social issues in India.

Fire (1996) is about two sisters-in-law in New Delhi who are in unhappy marriages. They form a close, loving bond with each other. The film caused a lot of debate in India because it challenged traditional ideas about family.

Earth (1998) is set during the 1947 Partition of India. It shows how this huge historical event tore apart a family and their friends. The story is based on the novel Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa.

Water (2005) tells the story of widows in 1930s India who were forced to live in a special home called an ashram. The film faced protests from some groups in India, and Mehta had to move the filming to Sri Lanka. Water was a huge success and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Midnight's Children

In 2012, Mehta directed the movie Midnight's Children. It is based on the famous novel by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie also helped write the screenplay.

The story is about a man named Saleem Sinai, who was born at the exact moment India gained its independence. The film follows his life, which is connected to the history of his country. The movie was nominated for several Canadian Screen Awards.

Themes in Her Films

Many of Mehta's films explore what it's like to belong to two different cultures, Indian and Canadian. She often looks at how big political events affect the lives of ordinary people.

Her films often question old traditions and show characters, especially women, who are trying to find their own way in the world. She is interested in how people are affected by conflict and change. She has said, "A driving force in the stories I want to tell is definitely curiosity."

Personal Life

Mehta was married to filmmaker Paul Saltzman from 1973 to 1983. They have a daughter, Devyani Saltzman, who is a writer.

Mehta is now married to producer David Hamilton. Her brother, Dilip Mehta, is also a film director and photographer. They have worked together on films.

Filmography

Documentary film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1973	St. Demetrius Rides a Red Horse	No	Narration	No
1986	K.Y.T.E.S: How We Dream Ourselves	Yes	Yes	Yes
2006	Let's Talk About It	Yes	No	No	Direct-to-video
2008	The Forgotten Woman	No	Yes	Executive
2016	Mostly Sunny	No	Yes	No
2023	I Am Sirat	Yes	No	No	Co-directed with Sirat Taneja

Documentary shorts

Year	Title	Director	Producer
1975	At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch	Yes	No
2016	Fantassút	No	Yes

Narrative film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1973	The Perlmutar Story	No	Yes	No	Short film
1988	Martha, Ruth and Edie	Yes	No	Yes	Anthology film co-directed with Norma Bailey and Danièle J. Suissa
1991	Sam & Me	Yes	No	Yes
1994	Camilla	Yes	No	No
1996	Fire	Yes	Yes	Yes
1998	Earth	Yes	Yes	Yes
2002	Bollywood/Hollywood	Yes	Yes	No	Also executive music producer
2003	The Republic of Love	Yes	Yes	No
2005	Water	Yes	Yes	No	Also development consultant
2008	Heaven on Earth	Yes	Yes	Executive
2009	Cooking with Stella	No	Yes	Executive
2012	Midnight's Children	Yes	Yes	Executive
2015	Beeba Boys	Yes	Yes	No
2016	Anatomy of Violence	Yes	No	No
2020	Violation	No	No	Executive
2020	Funny Boy	Yes	Yes	No
2022	Donkeyhead	No	No	Executive
TBA	Sky	Yes	Yes	Yes

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Notes
1976–1981	Spread Your Wings	Yes	Yes	Yes	Documentary series: director (4 episodes); writer (Episode: "Child of the Andes"); executive producer (13 episodes); production (2 episodes); sound (10 episodes)
1989–1990	Danger Bay	Yes	No	No	4 episodes
1993–1996	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Yes	No	No	2 episodes
2019	Leila	Yes	Yes	Creative	director (2 episodes); writer and creative executive producer (6 episodes)
2020	Little America	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Manager"
2021	Yellowjackets	Yes	No	No	Episode "Bear Down"

Deepa Mehta facts for kids

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