What motivated you to make a film based on Kiranjits traumatic life-story?
Pragna Patel of Southall Black Sisters had come to the screening of Bawandar in London in 2001 where she presented me with Kiranjit’s autobiography, Circle of Light, which I carried to Los Angeles. What had really inspired me to pursue this project was one line in Circle of Light in which, when asked how she feels after being convicted of a life sentence, Kiranjit replies ‘I feel free’. A lot of people were surprised about the casting of beautiful model-turned-actress Aishwarya Rai as Kiranjit Aluwalia. Why did she fit the bill? Aishwarya’s beauty has been her blessing and her curse. But one is willing to look beyond that. Because of her bedazzling looks, most roles she has been given in the past are of a gorgeous clothes horse, fluttering her eyelashes and dancing away to glory. I felt that hope of a new life, pain of betrayal, love and longing for her children, joy of finding a new life etc would be conveyed beautifully by her expressive eyes, without the help of much dialogue. Didn’
