Mira Nair emerges with a new dimension, that of a documentary filmmaker — for `AIDS Jaago.’ And is all set to direct Johnny Depp too!

She expresses as much through her kohl-lined cat eyes as her words. Thanks to her features and hairstyle people used to call her a look-alike of Zeenat Aman. “I was flattered. What more could a girl of 17 ask for,” Mira Nair says with a glint in her ever-sparkling eyes. Unlike many of her contemporaries, especially in the NRI category, Mira speaks chaste Urdu. “This is because of my father. He was a native of Lahore. He taught me the language,” she loves to be noticed for it.

Ever smiling, this lady whose greatest virtues seem to be patience and poise, is the one who doesn’t care much for the so-called celebrities. “I hate the word celebrity,” she expresses it as bluntly.

Meet Mira Nair, in New Delhi, in her new avatar as a documentary filmmaker for a cause. She is sharing the concern with noted filmmakers Vishal Bharadwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar.

The cause, named “AIDS Jaago,” is to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS across India and the globe through four short films of 12 minutes each made in entertaining than preaching ways. She has joined hands with Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation and Avahan - India Aids Initiative and roped in above-mentioned directors. The films will be produced by Mira Nair’s production house Mirabai Films.

Says Mira, “I lived in Uganda where AIDS/HIV is rampant. Its too much of a `in-your-face’ kind of thing there. I have lost many friends to AIDS there. Based on this experience and my own research in the remote parts of Maharashtra, I am going to shoot my film tentatively called `Migration,’ for which Zoya Akhtar (Javed Akhtar’s daughter) has penned the script. It will tell the audience that AIDS knows no boundaries of caste, class and country. It is not only sex workers or homosexuals who are affected by it.”

Mira tried to rope in bigger stars but had to be content with Irrfan Khan, Shiney Ahuja, Raima Sen and Sameera Reddy. “I was disappointed that big stars who show concern for the disease so much felt uneasy to associate themselves with it. To my shock, they didn’t want to play an AIDS/HIV-infected person! And many are overbooked for endorsing products that fetch them huge amounts of money. My films wouldn’t have fetched them the `required’ amount,” said Mira.

The films to be made in Hindustani, Kannada and Telugu “on a constrained budget” would be later combined to form a one-hour film for television and film festivals. The shorts would be shown in cinema halls before the feature film starts. “So far the idea is to ride piggy back on blockbusters. For which I am totally depending upon my relationships with big banners such as UTV,” she says.

Other films

Apart from “Migration,” Mira has decided to bring her much talked about film “Namesake” to India by April. The film starring Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Kal Penn and others is based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel of the same title. Jhumpa herself has a cameo in the film. It talks about an Indian’s American-born son Gogol Ganguli. Its about how he wants to fit in among his fellow Bostonians, despite his family’s unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways, and how Ashima (played by Tabu) feels lonely in New York and how she tries to adjust in a foreign place. “Being an Indian migrant in a foreign country, I could identify with this novel. There were so many scenes that were so close to my personal experience in an alien land that has finally become my country of residence,” says Mira.

For sometime now, Mira has been in the news for her declaration of making a film on the best-seller “Shantaram,” authored by Gregory David Roberts. The book is about an Australian prisoner who escapes and reaches India with a New Zealand passport.

The mention of the film has Mira in smiles. “I have learnt that Warner Brothers has chosen me to direct this film. It is a great stimulating factor. Johny Depp, who is the producer, will also play Shantaram. This film will define the relationship between the East and the West with a different perspective altogether,” says an excited Mira.

Not that Mira’s interest rests in only filmmaking. She has been enriching the students of Uganda, where she often resides, with Indian filmmakers’ vision. She is running Maisha, meaning life, a school in Uganda, which trains young students in script writing, filmmaking and makes them interact with directors from India and even other countries in a three-week course. Maisha is now three years old. Many accuse Mira of earning fame through the so-called NRI films. Says Mira, “I rely on intuition. I never have an agenda in mind while I choose a subject. That way I am pretty shamelessly populist. Many of my films don’t reflect the life I live. But I always like to subtly touch upon an issue than make it just a meaningless entertainment. That’s why my `Monsoon Wedding’ did greater business than many star-studded Bollywood films. That way they are mainstream. Aren’t they,” she smiles.