Reena Dutt is an incredibly talented human being. She’s a producer, writer, director, actor and superhero. I’m not kidding. Dutt has been involved in some of iiF’s favorite projects, one of which just screened at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF) this weekend. Yes you guessed it, she is a producer of “…Or Die” and “Squad 85.”

As an actress she’s been in television shows like “Medium”, “Out of Practice”, and “Criminal Minds.” In fact, she even just shot a pilot for A&E. As far as directing and producing goes, her credits include “Snapshot!”, “El Doctor”, “June, Adrift” and “3 Puffs of Gold”, which also just screened at CSAFF.

So naturally, we had to sit down and talk with her about life as brown woman in Hollywood. For more on her background and awesome credits, check out www.reenadutt.com.

Reena Dutt: Super Woman

Reena Dutt: Super Woman

iiF: How do you feel about the opportunities out there for South Asian/Brown artists today? Do you think it’s any better or any worse than it was before? Why?

Dutt: YES! Yay Miss America! Today’s media is infinitely better than it was back in 1998 when it comes to multi-cultural representation.  I think the more fields we get into, and get exposure to, the more educated people are becoming on South Asian American culture. It’s a beautiful thing. I think it’s also part of our job as artists to “Say No to Duds”. If a dud approaches an artist with a narrow minded idea, start a conversation, question the ignorance, [and] bring objective ideas to the table that might sway the project in a different direction. I look up to the folks who paved the road doing just that – Mindy Kaling, Aziz Ansari, Liz Merriwether, Sarayu Rao, etc.

iiF: You were a producer on “…Or Die” which won the audience award at SAIFF 2012 and is screening at CSAFF this year. It was a film that really touched on the misconceptions and stereotypes placed on brown artists these days. Can you share any specific examples with us on how you’ve dealt with these issues personally? Is there a potential solution in the future?

Dialogue. Dialogue. Dialogue is the key. When I started acting, it was pretty common to walk into an audition and see a sign by your character’s name saying “Indian accent please”. What was once an exciting potential opportunity to represent yourself, an Indian American character, was suddenly shattered by an immigrant backstory to justify why this character of color was on the screen.  This was just another slap in the face to an already poorly written female character. Recently I booked a pilot episode of an A&E show, and the character in the original script was written to be a submissive wife, who only spoke in Hindi (and only to her husband who was a doctor speaking in perfect English), innocent, and reluctant to warm up to the non-Caucasian characters. I had a great time auditioning for the team, and booked the role, but I must admit I was hesitant to portray yet another stereotype.

After booking it, and attending the table read and rehearsal, I realized how eager the star of the show was to truly portray this Indian couple, with a more well-rounded flavor – something more realistic and true to life. We started a constant dialogue with him throughout that week, until the character had been rewritten to be a two-faced, fleshed out woman, with a quirky side to her that you can clearly see in the subtitles. Something fun, well written, exciting and new. In the back of mind, every role booked, even the stereotypes, are an opportunity to create dialogue off-screen, with the movers and shakers in the film/TV world, if for no other reason, than to subconsciously educate them on who we are as people through simple conversations during the downtime.

As a producer or director it’s an easy fix – just keep creating the content that portrays colour the way you want it to be seen.  “Be the example you want to see in the world”. Gandhi rocks.

iiF: I recently watched your response to Seth Macfarlane’s “We Saw Your Boobs” Oscar skit and found it hilarious. It sounds like you’re a Macfarlane fan. What made you want to make that video?

Dutt: After watching his performance, I had a very mixed response. At first, I admired his commitment to his personal sense of humor. He is true to himself and what he finds funny, and he doesn’t hold back. You can see that by all the content he creates. I admire that. When I started hearing comments that he was ‘misogynist’ and ‘immature’ I started trying to figure out what the core of the issue was. I don’t believe in making choices that the public will see, if in the future you’re going to be upset for being called out on it.  If you do nudity [in film/TV], it’s safe to assume people are going to watch it and talk about it.

When I started thinking about it further, I found myself realizing that my personal issue is that it is uncommon for women to be applauded for their work if they don’t objectify themselves on some level (Monster’s Ball, Shakespeare in Love, Monster, The Piano, etc.), whereas for men, they are nominated based on performance and character development, – the actual work involved as an actor who dives into craft – that where my issues came into play. As a feminist I believe in equality for all, so yeah, let’s objectify men a bit more and make it a fair trade!  Pointing out the fact that men rarely show frontal nudity in the roles they are Oscar nominated for was fun for me, and I’m glad there were several angles to take from watching my vid, “Where was your D*ck”. Thanks for watching!

iiF: I see you’ve dabbled in several creative roles, in terms of acting, producing and directing. Which do you enjoy most and why?

Dutt: I couldn’t tell ya. I approach a project based on script, and where I fit in most. If it’s a story that truly resonates with me, I’ll jump on board wherever I fit in. If I’m emotionally attached to a character after reading a script, I won’t produce or direct it, as that’s a conflict of interest. If I have no character I’m attached to, but love the story, I’ll jump in as producer. If I read a script and have a distinct visualization of the piece, I want to direct. Once I know how my heart fits into something, I jump in. Making stories is fun, no matter what part of the story you facilitate.

iiF: Your other short film “3 Puffs of Gold”, which you directed, is screening at CSAFF this year. Tell me a little bit about what inspired you to make that film?

Dutt: Silence among survivors of assault has been a topic on my mind for several years. I think particularly in South Asian communities, survivors of sexual assault (usually female) are threatened and stay quiet, and there have been recent happenings within the South Asian American community where the same expectations have been carried into the new generation.  When Meena Serendib approached me to collaborate on this beautiful film that she had written, I knew immediately it was a story that needed to be seen – not only because of the subject matter but also because of the magical way we experience what the woman in our story goes through. It’s a tough story to tell, not just because the ‘incident’ is so hard to put a finger on, but also because the concept ‘don’t ruffle any feathers’ is so ingrain in South Asian culture, that a lot of folks have a hard time understanding what the problem is – silence! It’s created some beautiful dialogue at non-South Asian specific festivals about how the media portrays sexual assault across America, and I’m curious to see what the response will be like here in Chicago.