
Directing
Deepa Mehta
Born
1950-01-01 (76)
Place of birth
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Known for
Directing
Credits
36 titles
Deepa Mehta, LLD (born 1 January 1950 in Amritsar, Punjab, India) is a Genie Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005), which was nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Her repertoire includes Bollywood/Hollywood and the adaptation of Salman Rushdie's Midnight’s Children. Born in India, she migrated to Canada after studying philosophy at the University of New Delhi. Initially focusing on documentaries, she's received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and prestigious honours like the Governor General’s Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award a…
Known for
9.0For the Record, an anthology of 60-to-90-minute dramas, started on the series, Performance, as a subseries called Camera ’76. A collection of docudrama-style short stories on diverse but socially relevant (and very Canadian) topics such as unemployment, euthanasia, spousal abuse, televangelists, aboriginal issues, and anglophone-francophone relations. This series attracted most of the 'big name' Canadian actors and directors of the time.
For the Record
1976
5.5The story of a pair of children born within moments of India gaining independence from England, growing up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation. A Canadian-British film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel of the same name.
Midnight's Children
2012
6.8In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies sweep across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go reside with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
Water
2005
NRVocation is a documentary on artists who knew from a very early age they wanted to be an artist. A decision that for them was instinctual and some may even say it is 'a calling' based on faith and perhaps even fate alone. Artists Andy Jones, Deepa Mehta, Marie Brassard, Christopher Pratt, Brad Peyton and Bif Naked are committed to creating work in theatre, literature, music, film and performance based on an innate desire to succeed while working in the precarious profession of art.
Vocation
2013
4.9A thrice-divorced radio DJ meets the woman of his dreams but can he convince her of the truth of his feelings? An exploration of love, adapted from the novel by Pulitzer prize winning author Carol Shields.
The Republic of Love
2004
6.1While visiting Russia on his father’s lecture tour, Indy runs off on his own and meets Leo Tolstoy. Later, on a trip to Athens, Indy and his father are forced together by circumstance when they get into a bind in the monasteries of Meteora, where they share some memorable moments.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
1996
Film credits
2010s · 2 titles
NRVocation is a documentary on artists who knew from a very early age they wanted to be an artist. A decision that for them was instinctual and some may even say it is 'a calling' based on faith and perhaps even fate alone. Artists Andy Jones, Deepa Mehta, Marie Brassard, Christopher Pratt, Brad Peyton and Bif Naked are committed to creating work in theatre, literature, music, film and performance based on an innate desire to succeed while working in the precarious profession of art.
Vocation
2013
NRA portrait and tribute to Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta.
Deepa Mehta, in Profile
2012
Series credits
Behind the camera
5.5The story of a pair of children born within moments of India gaining independence from England, growing up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation. A Canadian-British film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel of the same name.
Midnight's Children
2012
6.8In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies sweep across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go reside with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
Water
2005
6.8In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies sweep across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go reside with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
Water
2005
4.9A thrice-divorced radio DJ meets the woman of his dreams but can he convince her of the truth of his feelings? An exploration of love, adapted from the novel by Pulitzer prize winning author Carol Shields.
The Republic of Love
2004
4.9A thrice-divorced radio DJ meets the woman of his dreams but can he convince her of the truth of his feelings? An exploration of love, adapted from the novel by Pulitzer prize winning author Carol Shields.
The Republic of Love
2004
6.1While visiting Russia on his father’s lecture tour, Indy runs off on his own and meets Leo Tolstoy. Later, on a trip to Athens, Indy and his father are forced together by circumstance when they get into a bind in the monasteries of Meteora, where they share some memorable moments.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
1996
3.4When Chand arrives in Brampton, Ontario to meet her new husband, she leaves behind a loving family and supportive community. Now, in a new country, she finds herself living in a modest suburban home with seven other people and two part-time tenants. Inside the home, she is at the mercy of her husband's temper, and her mother-in-law's controlling behaviour.
Heaven on Earth
2008
3.4When Chand arrives in Brampton, Ontario to meet her new husband, she leaves behind a loving family and supportive community. Now, in a new country, she finds herself living in a modest suburban home with seven other people and two part-time tenants. Inside the home, she is at the mercy of her husband's temper, and her mother-in-law's controlling behaviour.
Heaven on Earth
2008
6.6In 1947, the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
Earth
1998
6.6In 1947, the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
Earth
1998
6.6In 1947, the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
Earth
1998
6.0The elder Jones's lecture tour takes parents and son to India, where Indy explores the meaning of faith in oneself with Theosophist philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. Then, when Indy falls victim to typhoid fever in China, his mother must have faith and trust that the villagers' ancient medicines will save him.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Journey of Radiance
2000
3.8Gang leader Jeet Johar and his young, loyal, and often-brutal crew dress like peacocks, love attention, and openly compete with an old style Indo crime syndicate to take over the Vancouver drug and arms scene. Blood is spilled, hearts are broken, and family bonds shattered as the Beeba Boys do anything to be seen and to be feared in a white world.
Beeba Boys
2015
3.8Gang leader Jeet Johar and his young, loyal, and often-brutal crew dress like peacocks, love attention, and openly compete with an old style Indo crime syndicate to take over the Vancouver drug and arms scene. Blood is spilled, hearts are broken, and family bonds shattered as the Beeba Boys do anything to be seen and to be feared in a white world.
Beeba Boys
2015
6.8In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.
Fire
1997
6.8In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.
Fire
1997
6.8In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.
Fire
1997
5.6Freda Lopez, an aspiring musician, travels with her husband to the beautiful beaches of Georgia where she befriends Camilla, an odd and exotic elderly woman who plays the violin. When the two embark on a journey together, Camilla reclaims a lost love and makes peace with herself and her son, while Freda discovers inner resources she never knew she had.
Camilla
1994
5.4A student must navigate issues of sexuality, identity and family amid Sri Lanka's social turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s.
Funny Boy
2020
5.4A student must navigate issues of sexuality, identity and family amid Sri Lanka's social turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s.
Funny Boy
2020
5.7Rahul Seth is a dashing young millionaire who believes he is "western" enough to rebel against his mother and grandmother. They are not too keen about his Caucasian girlfriend Kimberly who, to make matters worse, is a pop star. Before you can say "karmic intervention," Kimberly dies in a freak accident and Rahul is devastated. Instead of allowing him to mourn in peace, Rahul's mother sees the opportunity she's been waiting for. She threatens to call off his sister's wedding unless he finds himself a "nice Indian girl." Rahul enlists the services of Sue, a fiercely independent escort whom he believes to be Hispanic, and therefore not "married" to the conventions taught to young Indian women. With a wink in her eye, Sue accepts the deal to pose as his Indian bride-to-be. She needs the money and having never been a fan of the typical Indian male, she feels her heart is safe. The charade begins....
Bollywood/Hollywood
2002
5.7Rahul Seth is a dashing young millionaire who believes he is "western" enough to rebel against his mother and grandmother. They are not too keen about his Caucasian girlfriend Kimberly who, to make matters worse, is a pop star. Before you can say "karmic intervention," Kimberly dies in a freak accident and Rahul is devastated. Instead of allowing him to mourn in peace, Rahul's mother sees the opportunity she's been waiting for. She threatens to call off his sister's wedding unless he finds himself a "nice Indian girl." Rahul enlists the services of Sue, a fiercely independent escort whom he believes to be Hispanic, and therefore not "married" to the conventions taught to young Indian women. With a wink in her eye, Sue accepts the deal to pose as his Indian bride-to-be. She needs the money and having never been a fan of the typical Indian male, she feels her heart is safe. The charade begins....
Bollywood/Hollywood
2002
1.0Deepa Mehta’s first documentary in decades introduces us to Sirat, a trans woman in Delhi who is forced to go back into the closet when living with, and caring for, her traditional mother.
I Am Sirat
2023
Two women attending a women's seminar on personal development walk out in acute embarrassment during the introduction. They meet up with a woman who arrived too late to be admitted. Thrown together by chance, they discuss their emotional lives in intimate detail.
Martha, Ruth & Edie
1988
Two women attending a women's seminar on personal development walk out in acute embarrassment during the introduction. They meet up with a woman who arrived too late to be admitted. Thrown together by chance, they discuss their emotional lives in intimate detail.
Martha, Ruth & Edie
1988
8.023-year-old Nikhil comes to Canada from India to find his fortune and is convinced by his uncle to work as a companion and care-giver to Sam, an elderly Jewish man. An unlikely friendship ensues, which gives both men new insight into life.
Sam & Me
1991
The story, set in 19th century Calcutta during British rule, sees a female prostitute embark on an unheard-of killing spree.
Troilokya
—
3.6Inside the Canadian diplomatic compound in New Delhi, a mischievous cook affects the lives of her employers and fellow staff.
Cooking With Stella
2010
follows Dr. Watson as he gives a poorly-attended lecture in Calcutta (as Kolkata was known then) before making a startling discovery — Sherlock Holmes has an illegitimate daughter named Sher living in the city, born from an affair with “an Indian young woman while he was in Cambridge.”
Sher
—
Forgiveness is a multigenerational story that spans decades and two continents against the backdrop of the Second World War, replete with inhuman atrocities. The film chronicles two Canadian families across three generations as they come to reconcile their despair with their hope for a more humane tomorrow.
Forgiveness
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Celebrated filmmaker Deepa Mehta investigates one of India’s most notorious crimes — the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a Delhi bus — in her angry, impassioned and essential new film.
Anatomy of Violence
2016
6.7Inspired by the 2006 Academy Award® nominee for Best Foreign Language film, "Water," this documentary tells the story of some of the 20 million Indian widows who are abandoned by their families and literally turned out into the streets when their husbands died. "Water" was a fictional recounting of this terrible tradition, set in 1938. "The Forgotten Woman" is true, and happening today.
The Forgotten Woman
2008

