A moment with the director: Interview with Reetta Flink

Everyone knows that without a director, a play is like a body without a soul. Reetta Flink, however, is much more than a director. She has been in the project since the very first day. Planning the whole show, being a general coordinator, she is one of the script writers and also a choreographer for the play's biggest musical scene. I met her after long and tiring rehearsals, and still she had the energy to give an interview. Remarkable!

- You are being called “The Messenger of Bollywood”. How come you got interested in Bollywood in the first place?

- I saw my first two Bollywood films in 2002 at the Love & Anarchy Film Festival (Lagaan and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham). My friend had told me: "In fifteen minutes, you'll know whether you like it or not." I think I decided in five minutes - I loved it!

During her studies, Reetta worked for two months as an internship in India, because the only way to get to know Bollywood is to go to work with it in Mumbai. The trip left her with fond memories of the capital of the Hindi cinema.

- I will never forget my interview with the director-choreographer Farah Khan, or meeting the director Karan Johar and to be able to tell him how his "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" changed my life. I met the composer legend Naushad, who gave me his blessings, I got a chance to follow several days of shooting with one of my favorite director Ram Gopal Varma. On the top of that I met many actors; Kajol, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hema Malini, Hrithik Roshan- just to mention a few. I also had a tiny speaking role in Vikram Bhatt's ”Speed” and danced in a musical scene of Karan Johar's ”Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna”.

- How did the "Ek Kahani" get started?

- Well, first of all, Caisa contacted me in the autumn. They wanted to do an India -themed event and gave me very little time to come up with ideas. As Ilona already told you, we first started joking about a play during the promotion video shooting for the Bolly Beat Dancers. Everybody saw how Ilona and Aditya's love story would make a great plot for a Bollywood film. We soon realized that, in fact, it was a brilliant idea. I talked about it with Sari Breilin (the head of Bolly Beat Dancers), and then proposed it together with other plans to Caisa. They absolutely fell in love with the idea of a Bollywood play and so we fixed the date.

Reetta directing the Bolly Beat promo video

This is not the first time Reetta Flink directs. Ever since her early childhood, she has been fascinated by the world of cinema. She knew that as an adult, she wanted to work with movies.

At the age of 12 her mom saw how much she was fascinated by movies, and put her in a cinematography course series at the Toteemi Children's Art Centre. The course involved all essential parts of movie making from script writing to filming and editing.

During her teens, Reetta studied acting, singing and dancing in the Performing Arts School Musti and in the Martinlaakso Upper Secondary School's theater group, which both held annual performances. She felt that it was important to do some acting herself to gather insight on how actors work.

After elementary school, Reetta continued her film studies in the Voionmaa Institute and later in the Tampere Polytechnic School of Art and Media where she graduated as an editor in 2006. Her final thesis was about the musical scenes of Bollywood movies.

- Do you have any favorite parts in "Ek Kahani"?

- I love the scene in which the two protagonists meet for the first time as stereotypes are reversed. The other scene which I like is the one where Amit calls his mother to tell about the girl he has met. Dramaturgically, it is a breathtaking scene. The dialogue is very realistic, the feelings are raw, it is overall a very strong scene. Funny fact: one of the characters is named after me. It is just because we wanted a name which foreign people tend to pronounce wrong. It adds to the funny side of "Ek Kahani"!

- Has everything gone smoothly during the rehearsals?

- More or less. The biggest difficulty for me has been organizing rehearsals. The actors of the play have their everyday lives; jobs; families; their own timetables; and it is not always easy to coordinate everything. For example our dance number "Saj Dhaj Ke" has over 20 dancers on stage. Now try to coordinate group rehearsal for them all!

- How do you feel like directing this play?

- I am enjoying it so much! Directing has always been closest to my heart, it comes naturally to me. Also, "Ek Kahani" is a Bollywood play, and directing it is like a dream come true. Sometimes I fear that I'm pushing my actors too much, but to make a good show, one has to work. Most of the actors don't have much acting experience but they are nevertheless doing a wonderful job. I love to see how the actors start trusting on each other - how the play becomes alive and starts living on its own. It is awesome and I'm proud of my actors.

- Does the play have many musical scenes?

- But of course, it wouldn't be Bollywood play without a plenty of them. Musical scenes also have many different kinds of music instead of just Bollywood. I have to thank all the choreographers for all the brilliant, new choreographs we have in this show – they have done a splendid job!

- You have said that you like theater, but cinema will always be closest to your heart. Do you have any future plans in this field?

- Yes, I'm working on a script for a short film and negotiating with the producers. It will be a dance film. Right now I am just waiting for the premiere night of "Ek Kahani". I can't wait to see how magnificent it will be!

Text by: Laura Kunnas
Thanks to A.F.!