Times of India Aug 6, 1999
By Our Cinema Correspondent

MUMBAI: ``There are fairly responsible people on the censor board's revising committee, and I am willing to accept their judgment,'' Shekhar Kapur, director of Elizabeth, said at a press conference on Thursday. He seemed to be in a more conciliatory mood after having earlier threatened to withdraw his film if the cen-sor board insisted on cuts.

``The revising committee had shown great responsibility in the case of Bandit Queen, so I have faith in it,'' he added.

Cate Blanchett, who plays Elizabeth, appeared radiant in a sequinned beige churidar-kameez. Joseph Fi-ennes, who plays her lover Robert Dudley in the film -- as well as the protagonist in Shakespeare in Love -- seemed a touch overwhelmed by the goings-on, for there seemed little respite from the incessant flashbulbs.

Kapur was still smarting from the three cuts that the censor board's examining committee has called for. The first is for a deletion of the word `quinny', referring to a woman's private parts, which the Duke of Anjou uses when insulting the Queen. The second is of a scene with the severed, impaled head of Lord Arundel, and the third is when the Duke of Norfolk and his mistress are in bed.

``It is important to view these scenes in the context of the film rather than individually, for that was the ar-gument on which Bandit Queen won its case,'' says Kapur. He was emphatic in his suggestion that ``the censor board give reasons when demanding cuts, so one knows if they understand the process of film ma-king or not, because without it, I'd say they have no idea at all.''

Reflecting on his two recent Elizabethan era roles, Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love, Fiennes said, ``I never saw them both as just Elizabethan dramas, but as something contemporary and unique. Elizabeth is about the sinister court machinations and the rise of Queen Elizabeth, while Shakespeare is more a fan-tasy. I find language an exciting area of creativity. It was a challenge to look intelligent while speaking Shakespeare.'' Of his co-stars, who included Sir Richard Attenborough and Geoffrey Rush, he said, ``It was astounding to be on the sets with men of such immense calibre. It's like playing tennis with a pro -- they lift your game.''

Blanchett, who had admired Bandit Queen, found it ``fantastic, frustrating, hilarious, inspiring and challen-ging'' working with Shekhar. ``I like his vision, his deep understanding of women, his take on the universe. He has a chaotic world view that is enlivening,'' she said. Kapur admitted, ``I am a chaotic director. But in moments of chaos, you rely less on pre-conceived notions and re-examine them. It's an organic learning process.''

Musing on his rise to international stardom, he mused, ``After Bandit Queen, I hoped someone would give me a good film, then I hoped the film would get made, then I hoped I would not be thrown out of the film, then I hoped it would get to the Venice film festival, then I hoped it would do well at the box office, then I hoped it would get the Oscar. The problem is there's no end to greed,'' he concedes.

Blanchett adds, ``The Oscars are not a horse race, it's just a matter of taste. It was quite something to be grouped with a bunch of extraordinary actors and directors, and the outcome didn't matter in the end.'' The actress continues her commitment to theatre, where she started her career. She performed in Plenty on the London stage, just before arriving in the city.

Meanwhile, Kapur's own future seems crammed with interesting possibilities. ``I am looking at a film on Nelson Mandela, the musical, Phantom of the Opera, a film about people coming to terms with their relative's death in an air crash and another film about a World War II pilot,'' he said. He's not ruling out Tara Rum Pum Pum and Time Machine, his unfinished Indian projects. This seemed to prompt some recklessness on the part of Fiennes. ``Some day, I hope to act in a Hindi film,'' he said. ``I'm waiting for a script to come my way.'' Whereupon Kapur immediately relieved him of the burden of his expectations by pointing out dryly, ``In Hindi films, the script never arrives.''