In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, filmmaker Ron Scalpello takes us through his formative years, his recent series Taj: Divided by Blood, working with one of the greatest actors, Naseeruddin Shah, and more.
Amartya Smaran
Zee5’s epic historical TV series, Taj: Divided by Blood, premiered on March 3 and opened to great critical acclaim. The series marks British filmmaker Ron Scalpello’s first Indian project. When Ron told his friends, at the age of 15 or 16, that he wanted to make films, they all laughed at him, but little did they expect that he’d thrive so well as a filmmaker. He went on to direct numerous films such as The Offender (2012), My Name is Lenny (2017), and The Corrupted (2019).
Ron comes from a working-class background in East London’s Bethnal Green, where he had little to no access to films. “I always wanted to tell stories, probably from the age of 11,” remarked Ron, talking about what propelled him to tell stories. “I was a very imaginative child. Even with Taj, I like the idea of doing big epic cinema; I’ve seen films like El Cid (1961) and Ridley Scott films. I’ve always loved big historical war picture stories as a child. From my background, there weren’t many people who were making films. Through drama and music, I realised I could probably go on to make films, and it was a big moment in my life. I went back to film school as a 24-year-old and gave everything I could to become a filmmaker, and 25 years later, here I still am. It’s an amazingly scary moment when you have to take that leap of faith and give everything that you’ve got to pursue an abstract dream as a child to become a film director and a storyteller.”
The My Name is Lenny director attended the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in the south of London, in a place called Farnham. In his first term, he made short films and pop videos. Even though he was studying, Ron was getting professionally commissioned. He said, “It’s strange actually, because I started to feel like directing was a craft that just came very easily to me in the end. The true extension of who I was as a person or how I wanted to be was in film directing. I finally found a job or a role that suited who I was, and it was so lovely to feel that.”
When asked about the relevance of people attending film schools in today’s day and age, he shared, “Technically, you don’t necessarily need to go to a film school to understand different shots (close, wide, over-the-shoulder, point of view shot), but what you need to understand is how you tell a story and what aspects of filmmaking are at your disposal to narrate that story. For me, it is always about the mise-en-scene. Making sure that every element of the image combines to tell a story in a way that you feel is right for the tone of the film—sound, costume design, production design, camera movement, character performance, and writing. It is a very rich and complicated craft.”
He continued: “Not everyone needs to go to film school. You can learn that from different books and interviews. There’s so much media out there. You can take master classes, but for me, in the mid-90s, it felt like I needed to sort of give this craft four years of dedicated time. I still carry the things that I learned in film school, like storyboarding, shot listing, understanding things in my story, and making sure everything is working in tandem to make the story as rich as it can be for an audience.”
While talking about his recent series, Taj: Divided by Blood, he shared, “When I was brought on board, I said, “I respect and understand the Mughal history and its place in India, and what it means to people,” but I am coming from it as an outsider who wants to tell a great story for a big audience.”
What makes the series so intriguing is the convoluted family dynamics that are intrinsically interwoven within the epic story. The filmmaker shared, “The complexities of the relationships! That was the most fascinating part of the script for me. The decisions that you have to make as a father, as a mother, and as a child always fluctuate over time. No one’s perfect in the world, and no one’s decision is set in stone. And decisions sometimes, in hindsight, prove to be wrong, and there can be regret, guilt, and remorse sometimes. No one is perfect, and life could be too simple, and there’d be no drama in life or in storytelling if everything went as planned.”
Actor Naseeruddin Shah is one of the greatest actors in the country and perhaps in the world. When The Pioneer asked the filmmaker to talk about the legendary actor, he shared, “I was really privileged to meet Naseer, and he had been to the National Theatre in London, so I was aware of his work in the UK. In the course of things, we talked a lot about the character. The trick is not to overdirect brilliant actors who have accumulated so much wisdom and invested in their craft for so long. Naseer is so well-researched, and he turns up to work perfectly. He’s practised his lines, and it’s his theatre background that makes him such a brilliant actor because it is a craft. With Naseer, there’s a wonderful scene with the three sons. He can show empathy, strength, and remorse. Naseer has so much empathy, grace, and wisdom. With great actors, I always joke, just make sure you point the camera in the right direction because if they’re good, you don’t have to overwork sometimes as a director. My work is to give them a platform or a stage to make their space look believable and plausible. And give some good guidance around where we are with the story and make some blocking, but with great actors like Naseer, you don’t know how to direct actually.”
Does Ron think Taj: Divided by Blood is one of the most comprehensive depictions of the Mughal empire to date? Well, he ended by saying, “I won’t be so bold as to claim that it is the most comprehensive depiction. I’m sure there are lots of stories from the period and documentaries that contribute to an absolutely comprehensive understanding of the Mughal Empire. I hope we are the most entertaining and contemporary version of that story. We just wanted to make this a really big, epic, cinematic TV series and tell a great historical story in a way that has not been seen before.”
