Deepa Mehta

Directing

Deepa Mehta

Born 1950-01-01 · Amritsar, Punjab, India

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 and the Order of Canada for her groundbreaking work in film. Recognized for challenging norms, Mehta’s films are revered for their daring and provocative nature, earning her distinctions like the Best Canadian Director by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle in 2006. She also co-founded Hamilton-Mehta Productions, with her husband, producer David Hamilton in 1996.

Acting credits

Vocation poster
NR

Vocation 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

Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Cinema poster
8.0

The film consists largely of a series of interviews with female filmmakers from several different countries and filmmaking eras. Some, such as Agnès Varda and Catherine Breillat (both from France), have been making films for decades in a conscious effort to provide an alternative to the male filmmaking model; others, such as Moufida Tlatli (Tunisia) and Carine Adler (England), are relative newcomers to directing, and their approaches seem more personal and less political. The film as a whole manages to cover some important topics in the feminist debate about film -- how does one construct a female gaze, how can one film nude bodies without objectifying the actors (of either sex), what constitutes a strong female role -- while also making it clear that “women’s film” comprises as many different approaches to filmmaking as there are female filmmakers.

Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Cinema

2000

Deepa Mehta, in Profile poster
NR

A portrait and tribute to Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta.

Deepa Mehta, in Profile

2012

Behind the camera

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father poster
6.1

While 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

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Journey of Radiance poster
6.0

The 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

Bollywood/Hollywood poster
5.7

Rahul 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

Bollywood/Hollywood poster
5.7

Rahul 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

Midnight's Children poster
5.5

The 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

Water poster
6.8

In 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

Water poster
6.8

In 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

Fire poster
6.8

In 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

Fire poster
6.8

In 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

Fire poster
6.8

In 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

Camilla poster
5.6

Freda 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

Beeba Boys poster
3.8

Gang 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

Beeba Boys poster
3.8

Gang 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

The Republic Of Love poster
4.9

A 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

The Republic Of Love poster
4.9

A 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

Earth poster
6.6

In 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

Earth poster
6.6

In 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

Earth poster
6.6

In 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

Heaven on Earth poster
3.4

When 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

Heaven on Earth poster
3.4

When 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

No artwork available
9.0

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

No artwork available
9.0

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

Sam & Me poster
8.0

23-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

Funny Boy poster
5.4

A student must navigate issues of sexuality, identity and family amid Sri Lanka's social turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s.

Funny Boy

2020