Dec 28, 1998
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WARIS HUSSEIN Reason to be Happy With Sixth Happiness Hussein proves himself a director who doesn't shy away from controversial themes. By Arthur J Pais
Unlike his earlier films which dealt with the rich, powerful and the sensuous, Sixth Happiness is the story of the deformed but ever ebullient Kanga who plays the character of "Brit". When Brit is born, the child is an irremediable mishap to his father. But to Brit's mother, he is her "Prince of Wales". He grows up with all the complexes of a handicapped person. It is only when Cyrus (played by Ahsen Bhatti), who later becomes his mentor and lover, enters his adult life and challenges his vision of himself does Brit metamorphose into a self-sufficient person. Although Hussein was born in Lucknow, this is the first time he has filmed in India. The son of writer Attia Hosain, he is known as one of the gentlest directors on both sides of the Atlantic. Hussein wanted to strike a chord with this sensitive theme. "Through him (Brit) I wanted to show the triumph of human will and challenge the notion of physical beauty. This is a story of a boy who learns to accept with wry pragmatism the blow of fate ... it is also the story of three minorities from India we seldom see on the screen -- Parsis, disabled and gays." Hussein's sister Shama Habibullah was the line producer for Sixth Happiness. Shot in Mumbai, this bittersweet saga did not come off without a few hiccups though -- it remained without a distributor for months. As Hussein dryly says, "Distributors are terrified of a film about disabled people unless it stars a Dustin Hoffman or Tom Cruise." Only when rave reviews came from publications like The Financial Times, Evening Standard and The Telegraph was the film shown in over half a dozen theatres across the UK in October. "That's a shameless comment", as Alexander Walker wrote in The Evening Standard, an offbeat British film is not given a "fair exhibition chance" by multiplexes that would rather show flop American films. Walker even wrote that Kanga's performance had a "battery-pack power". If one critic lauded Kanga's performance, another complimented the film's flow. "Hussein directs with minute attention to performance so that we warm to Kanga's struggle to lead a fulfilled life -- intellectual, artistic and sexual," wrote Nigel Andrews in The Financial Times. Hussein himself is unassuming. He decided that Kanga should play all the three age groups of the protagonist. "He was surprisingly resilient for someone who had a high fatigue level. Given that he was in every scene at times, I got even more tired than Firdaus," says the director with admiration. The first-time actor feels it was worth working with Hussein, whom he refers to as a "dream director", adding, "I was so relieved someone could see the story not as sensationalism. Waris has a sensitive, beautiful touch." Of one thing Hussein is certain. He cautions against the film being given any labels. He sees it as a crusade against disability and prejudices against minorities. "As someone who has lived in the shadow of racial prejudice in Britain, I feel very strongly about any minority, and the world of the disabled is one that people tend to shy away from. It really upsets me because I believe whether we manifest it physically or not, we are all disabled one way or another," he said in a recent interview.
Hussein is not a beginner in experimental cinema. During his three-decade career, he has directed such stalwarts like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Divorce His, Divorce Hers, and Anthony Quinn in The Richest Man in the World: The Aristotle Onassis Story. His latest TV hit Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story was aired in the US in October and is scheduled for several more showings. With the Oscar-nominated Ann Margaret in the lead, it is the intriguing story of the woman who was once married to Winston Churchill's son, was the doyenne of the Democratic party and was chosen by President Bill Clinton as America's ambassador to France. To her foes, Harriman, who died last year, was the greatest "courtesan" of the 20th century. Hussein obviously doesn't shy away from controversial subjects. "Hussein is not only one of the most prolific and productive directors in England and America," says former Variety magazine's news editor George Russell, "but also the most efficient. He knows how to get top performances from his stars." So much so that even US President Bill Clinton couldn't resist playing himself in a Hussein film -- A Child's Wish -- the 1997 television drama about the real life story of a terminally ill girl determined to go to Washington and meet the most powerful person in the country. Confidence could well be this director's middle name. |
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The applause may not be as resounding as it was for
Shekhar Kapur who directed Elizabeth but he is making an impression. One can see the quiet
appreciation for director Waris Hussein's film chronicling the life of a disabled child
who is born with "bones like biscuits". Sixth Happiness, based on 37-year-old
writer Firdaus Kanga's autobiography, Trying to Grow, portrays his lifelong struggle
against handicaps. But it is only now, a little over a year after it won the Audience
Award when it premiered at the London Film Festival, that the international press is full
of praise for Sixth Happiness. But then Hussein, who has to his credit over 20 British and
American TV films, never hesitated to experiment. 
After its initial
travails, Sixth Happiness is finally getting due recognition. A few arthouse distributors
in the US are vying for the rights for an early 1999 release and discussions are on with
companies like Fine Lines. "It is a strong contender for an arthouse circuit and
deserves exposure to an intelligent, and hopefully, liberal-thinking audience," says
Hussein. Even though the budget was a minuscule $1.2 million (Rs 5.1 crore), making the
film has been a gratifying experience for Hussein. His strong point being not to let the
ups and downs in his career bog him down. "You can't let ego and cynicism overtake
you," he says. Perhaps a lesson he learnt from Brit. 
