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Touch of Pink
Year: 2004
Country: Canada
Director: Ian Iqbal Rashid
Starring: Jimi Mistry, Kyle MacLachlan, Sue Mathew and Kristen Holden-Reid.
Synopsis: A Canadian south Asian man -- who has Cary Grant's spirit talking to him -- living in London tries to convince his visiting mother that the man living with him is just his roommate.
Quick review: FEW DIRECTORS WHO make their major full-length film debut also carry the title of screenwriter. And fewer still make their first film so personal and nearly autobiographical. So, excuse Ian Iqbal Rashid if he s a little nervous as he travels to film festivals across the United States to showcase Touch of Pink, which is scheduled to be open at theaters in metropolitan Washington, D.C., on Aug. 13. Every time we show it at a festival I m nervous, Rashid says. Even the last one I went to, I could feel my hand gripping the arm rest harder and harder after the movie started. But after 15 minutes or so, I relaxed. The gay director and screenwriter, born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in Canada, has little to worry about. Reactions to Touch of Pink have been very positive. After the 92-minute romantic comedy made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Rashid received scores of offers from other film companies to write and direct more films in this genre. Touch of Pink is about a gay man of South Asian descent who lives in London with his English boyfriend and hides the true nature of his relationship when his mother visits. She comes to London to convince her son to find a proper Ismaili-Muslim girlfriend and to return home with her to Canada. It has been a hit at gay film festivals, usually being selected as the opening movie. The reactions are all different, but we ve gotten a lot of standing ovations, Rashid says. After each one I want to get out the cell phone and call the British Board of Film and scream, Listen to this! THE FILM STARS Jimi Mistry as Alim, a young South Asian Canadian who works as a still photographer in the movie industry and lives with his partner Giles (Kristen Holden-Ried), a handsome economist. There also is another man in Alim s life. Since childhood, he has relied on the spirit of film legend Cary Grant (Kyle MacLachlan) to be his life s guide, though Giles is unaware of this. Alim is invited to return to his mother s home in Toronto for the wedding of a cousin. When he refuses, his mother, Nuru (Suleka Mathew), sets out to London to teach her son some manners. The problem is, Alim has never come out to his family. While coming-out films are almost becoming clich? in gay cinema, Touch of Pink goes beyond the obvious and adds delightful layers to the plot with its look at various cultures and religions. And there is always Cary Grant s spirit butting in with some helpful, and not-so-helpful, advice. It s got beautiful writing, that s why I wanted to do it, Mistry says of his reason for taking the starring role. But, my first thought was, How the hell are they going to make it? I mean, the first scene you have Cary Grant standing there. Tapping MacLachlan to portray Cary Grant was an inspired choice. He nails the film star s mannerisms, look and dialogue. THE APPEAL FOR Rashid in making this film was that he focuses on gay culture from different perspectives. For example, one of the film s plot turns addresses how many gay Muslim men get married because it is what is expected of them. That was a big part of the story I wanted to tell, Rashid says. A few years ago when I was in Toronto, I went to a South Asian gay support group to give a speech about gay issues, and there were 40 people there about half of them were married and had kids. It s very sad. While this story mirrors a lot of Rashid s life, it s not a true autobiography. He doesn t carry Cary Grant s spirit around, and he came out to his family in his teens (at 17 was his best guess). But he says Touch of Pink is a very personal film because of the clash of cultures. He began writing it 11 years ago at a screenwriter s workshop. Since then, Rashid has built a reputation writing for British television series, including the critically acclaimed This Life. He also has written and directed two short films Surviving Subu and Stag which helped him garner approval to make Touch of Pink. Rashid also is the author of three award-winning volumes of poetry and short fiction and in 1999 won the Aga Khan Award for Excellence in the Arts. In addition, he founded and was the first artistic director of Desh Pardesh, North America s first festival celebrating South Asian arts in the West. No matter what I ve done, I ve always come back to this project, says Rashid, who lives in London with his partner, Peter Ride. When I first started it, Alim had just arrived in London and didn t have a boyfriend. But, as I have evolved, so has Alim. FOR MISTRY, ONE OF THE CHALLENGES of his role was portraying a gay man in a convincing manner. He and his co-star Holden-Ried are straight. It took them a while to develop the chemistry needed for their love scenes. Well, I can sum it up in our very first rehearsal, Holden-Ried says in the production notes. I had never met Jimi before and we were going to be playing very intimate moments opposite each other. We walked into the room and we sat down to rehearse and Ian said, OK, this is going to be an improv and you re just at a table and it s your first date. And I reached across the table to take Jimi s hands and they were ice cold and sweaty, and so were mine, and we looked at each other and we re like, Thank God! We re on the same page, Holden-Ried says. Mistry agrees. Ian introduced us, and what Kris said in the notes about clammy hands is completely true, he says. Right after meeting [Holden-Ried], I knew this was going to be as hard for both of us, and that helped the situation a little. It s hard enough to do these scenes any time. The gay angle just made it more complicated. Kris suggested we go to a pub and get a beer, he adds. First, we had to be mates before we were ready to be more & on screen. Mistry, who was raised a strict Catholic, had few qualms about portraying a gay character. I have played a gay role before, briefly, but I didn t have to actually do anything, he says. I was nervous about it this time. You know, in the back of your head you have this little voice saying, What if I like it? It would be easy to describe Touch of Pink as a cross between My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Bend It Like Beckham, and Mambo Italiano, with Cary Grant s ghost thrown in for flavor. But this film stands on its own with witty dialogue and strong performances. There are few surprises in the coming-out portion of Touch of Pink. It is at its strongest, however, when examining cultural and religious attitudes toward homosexuality from another perspective.
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