'I love Deepa Mehta's films' ...says film director Hugh Hudson, who is in town as the head of the jury members of MAMI

director Hugh Hudson

Oscar winning director Hugh Hudson is in town to grace this year's Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI). Though the director is not really aware of a lot of Bollywood films, he reveals his only connection to B-town is a Bollywood channel in UK. "In the UK we get a Bollywood channel. I tune into the channel sometimes and see," says Hugh.
In spite of not knowing any Bollywood actors, the director remembers the iconic Shammi Kapoor, "Recently, the greatest actor of Bollywood passed away right?" he asked. Hugh also expressed that how he loves Deepa Mehta's films, "I loved Water, simply, great filmmaking." He jokingly adds, "What happened to her? She must have gone to the West!" Talking about Deepa Mehta's counterpart Mira Nair he says, "I haven't seen Namesake, but I didn't like her film Vanity Fair. She just didn't get the irony."
Hugh, who looked a little jet-lagged, went on to speak about India's best import to Hollywood — Freida Pinto, "She is a good actress. Very good looking and she is doing so well." But it's Freida's co-star in Rise of the Planet of the Apes that Hugh really admires as an actor, "I really like James Franco's acting. I think he is a brilliant actor." On the personal front, his last film came out in 2000. On being asked about it the director got a little defensive, "I recently finished a documentary. I have been doing a lot of things. But finance is a lot of problem." His film based on homage to Catalania also didn't work out, despite boasting a star cast of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. "The cast was too old for the producers. That's why it didn't work out." Finally, the director ends with a happy note. His classic film Chariots of Fire is going to be re-released at the London Olympics in 2012, including a DVD release.