Aparita

They call her their pint-sized wonder. Meet VJ Kim, a.k.a. Komila Jagtiani. She’s one of the senior most VJ’s on Channel V, India’s rival music TV channel to MTV India. As the host of some of Channel V’s most exciting shows - Cool Stop, P.O.V. and Club V - Kim’s pretty much a household name in India.

On a balmy Sunday afternoon, Kim arrives at the Crepe Station, a charming roadside eatery owned by her boyfriend. The Crepe Station is located in Bandra West, a tony neighbourhood in Mumbai housing Bollywood stars such as Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. The small but cozy Crepe Station is filled with smart, young Mumbaikars, scarfing down Belgian waffles or crepes. The Canadian breakfast option - pancakes, fruits and honey - on the menu looks tempting, but doesn’t do much for nostalgia. Maybe if they switched maple syrup for the honey…

Kim’s just a tad late - about 20 minutes - and she hurries as she parks her cute little black car on the curb, flashing a smile to the cabbie who pulls back to let her manoeuvre.

Petite, she wears a camisole top and a frilly skirt that show off her porcelain skin. Her hair drawn back in a tight bun, Kim looks more like a Spanish senorita.

“Have you been waiting,” she asks, immediately contrite. “I used to do that too. I used to arrive on time for all my appointments right on the dot. And then I’d just twiddle my thumbs. Waiting, waiting, waiting. It’s much better to arrive a little late.”

It took Kim some time to learn the Indian ways.

A former Miss India Canada winner - she won in 1999 - Kim was actually born Komila Jagtiani in Mumbai, India. When she was a child, her family moved to Canada and Komila became Kim.

Barely out of her high school, Kim entered the annual Miss India Canada beauty pageant, a contest now known for having jumpstarted the career of now Bollywood celebrity Ruby Bhatia. One of the prizes for winning the contest is a return fare to India. But for many Miss India Canada aspirants, the prize is considered a one-way ticket to Bollywood.

There were no Bollywood aspirations as far as she was concerned, says Kim. All set to start at the University of Toronto, she had no intention of staying back.

But a chance audition with Channel V changed her plans.

“I was just vacationing in India, and somehow Channel V got a hold of my number and got in touch with me,” says Kim. “I’ve no idea how they did that. And they asked me if I’d like to audition for a VJ. I had no idea what a VJ was. They told me it was an anchor. I didn’t even want to go. I was telling them that I’m heading back to Toronto, and that I start university real soon. But my aunt pushed me to try it out.

“It was really weird. They put me in this black miniskirt and fuchsia pink top, put all this make-up on my face. Now, I’m someone who believes in natural beauty. So, I thought I looked horrible. Then they just asked me to talk. So I did. I thought I made a complete fool of myself.”

Turns out the powers-that-be at Channel V liked Kim’s quirky audition and offered her a job.

“I was like, holy sh**,” laughs Kim. “There’s no way I’ll give up my UFT entry. My parents have always been about studies. But then my parents - they’re the coolest - told me that I could give it a shot. I could defer my entrance to UFT. If it didn’t work out, I could come back after a year.

“So, I came to Mumbai.”

A second-generation Canadian returning to India, Kim was in for a bit of a culture shock, amongst other challenges.

“I had no idea how tough it would be,” says Kim. “I had just turned 18, and I knew nothing about India. I didn’t know the culture, I didn’t know the language. I didn’t understand the mentality.

“Work-wise, because I wasn’t from here, it was like someone else coming and taking your job. There was a hidden animosity.”

But Kim had no time to even think, what with her gruelling schedule for the first two years at Channel V. At one time, says Kim, she was hosting six shows - shooting everyday, working double shifts.

“It was weird at first,” says Kim. “Everyone was super nice to me, until I found out they didn’t really mean it. It was just superficial friendliness. In Toronto, people tell you like how it is. The politics took a little getting used to.

“I learnt Hindi from everyone, from the cabwallahs to the autowallahs. Now I can speak pretty decently.”

Now in her fourth year in India and as a Channel V VJ, Kim says she’s loving it.

“I really like my job,” she says. “I can’t tell you how lucky I am. I get to do all this travelling, I get to learn so much. And I get paid for it. I mean it’s pretty hard at times. Like when I had to do the Lakme India Fashion Week. For one week, I was just talking, talking, talking on the mic. But then I also got to travel to Italy because of my job. That was really cool.

“I got to interview Celine Dion; that was my first major interview. And I got to go to Florida for that. I’ve also interviewed Jennifer Love Hewitt.”
Some of Kim’s future plans include theatre and movies. Coming back to Toronto, however, isn’t on her immediate priority list.

“I don’t feel complete in Toronto anymore,” she says. “In Mumbai, once you live here, you get addicted. It’s a city of destiny. I was as Canadian as you could get. But here, I’m absorbing my own culture. Living with my people. I’m finding out more about who I really am. “But I’m also Canadian. That’s also where I am from. There is a constant confusion. But I feel I truly am both. And I think I’m truly lucky to have that. It’s worth the confusion.”

Toronto Star, [04/02/2004]

New generation of Indian film Projects screen at ReelWorld

APARITA BHANDARI

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Mumbai, India — Until recently, most of the projects produced by the Indian film industry have been old-school, big-budget movies with song and dance sequences, and a melodramatic plot that prides itself in covering romance, comedy, drama, tragedy and action, all in the space of at least three hours.

But the Bollywood blockbuster is gradually losing its monopoly on the movie industry. A new genre is emerging that is more reality-focused and shot on much smaller budgets.

Two such movies - Joggers’s Park and Raghu Romeo, a Bollywood indie film - will screen at the fourth annual ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto tonight and tomorrow, respectively.

“We still have songs and dances, but our heroes don’t change their costumes 17 times,” says Pritish Nandy, chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications, which recently released Chameli, a Pretty Woman-type story that was shot in 30 days and cost $66,000 (U.S.) to make. “The (new) films aren’t larger than life. They’re a slice of life. I make movies that I want to watch. My movies aren’t a variety program; they’re etched in the contemporary Indian urban sensibility.”

Pankaj Sethi, the chief executive of Mukta Arts, refers to Jogger’s Park as a niche film.

Niche films, says Sethi, generally run about 30 prints as opposed to 250-300 prints required for Bollywood blockbusters. Their budgets of about $1 million are miniscule compared to the $3 million big banner Bollywood films.

“Over the past five years, there’s been a proliferation of multiplexes in India, and this has allowed for smaller screens, especially in the urban centres,” says Sethi. “It has allowed us to experiment with films.

“It’s actually a chicken-and-egg thing. There was a transition already happening. It’s becoming harder and harder to make pan-Indian films that talk to the diverse communities of India. Smaller films, aimed at urban centres, are becoming more common.”

There’s a change in the urban Indian sensibility, partly to do with cable television and easy access to recent Hollywood movies in Indian theatres. To address the change, niche films inherently have a story or concept that goes beyond the formulaic Bollywood ploys, says Sethi.

“You can call Jogger’s Park a film for the MTV generation,” he says. “The lead role of Jenny is of a 28- to 30-year-old model living in Mumbai, who jogs at Jogger’s Park, an actual place in upscale Mumbai. The story has to do with Jenny’s relationship with an older man.”

Raghu Romeo, the directorial venture of Bollywood actor Rajat Kapoor, falls into the indie category. Vijay Raaz (Monsoon Wedding) plays the title role of a waiter in a topless bar who falls for a TV soap opera character.

Although Kapoor received some funding from the National Film Development Corporation of India, and had saved up some money from his previous acting and modelling assignments, he was still short by a couple of million rupees. So he e-mailed friends, asking if they could invest.

With 38 names, the producers’ list in the credits for Raghu Romeo might be a little longer than normal. But Kapoor is thankful he got to make the film.

“People sent me e-mails from all over the world, saying they can help - act, sing, dance, make Web sites - for free,” he says. “It shows they believe in this kind of cinema.”