By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, July 22 (IANS) Moving dramatically away from the Indianness of her last two films - Oscar-nominated “Water” and the ready-for-release “Heaven On Earth”, Canada-based Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta now moves into the veiled society of Tehran. She is making a film on Iranian author and professor Azar Nafisi’s bestseller “Reading Lolita In Tehran”. Over 100 weeks in the New York Times’ bestseller list and translated into 32 languages, “Reading Lolita In Tehran” is the story of literature teacher Nafisi, who holds classes in ultra-conservative Tehran with seven of her best students discussing Western literature that is forbidden in their country.

A progressive novel about women’s rights and feminist issues in a conservative Islamic society, this time again Mehta is all set to raise fundamentalists’ hackles as she did when she tried to make “Water” in Varanasi 10 years ago. The film had to be finally shot in Sri Lanka much later with a completely different cast.

It’s doubtful whether Mehta will be allowed to shoot the movie in actual locations.

“One has to be fearless and true to one’s vision. Otherwise there’s no point in writing books or making films,” Mehta told IANS on phone from Canada.

“I don’t think cinema is only about entertainment, though I’ve made souffl