Susanne Fosse: You studied at University of California, Berkeley which has produced some excellent filmmakers Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line) and Carl Franklin (One false Move). Why did you want to begin working in film?

Neeta Mittal : Oh yes! The Berkeley alums that showed the way! Well, for me it has always been a tug between the left and the right sides of the brain. I decided that Entertainment business would serve both, in a sense. I joined the film fraternity to understand the business of movie making. In the process I got involved in the creative. Because of my previous experience as a dancer, and dance and fashion choreographer, I decided to explore the voices from the right hemisphere by enrolling in a directing class. The 3-minute film deliverable took a life of its own. And “Wings of Legacy” was made. I think the left brain has now made peace with the right.

Susanne Fosse: "Wings of Legacy" is a wonderful debut short film for a director. What inspired the idea for the story?

Neeta Mittal :I find it amusing to juxtapose two conflicting ideas and visualize what could come out of it. In “Wings of Legacy”, I thought it will be interesting to juxtapose something as fluid as dance with something that is perceived as inhibiting, such as a wheelchair. You have a conflict right there. My love for dance had a lot to do with the subject matter as well. When I met with Auti Angel, who plays Amy, I decided to make a film that does not concentrate on the disability. I refused to depict the disabled character as a hero or as a pathetic victim as is usually done in narrative form of filmmaking. I wanted the wheelchair to be just a physical trait and I wanted the character to have real human flaws.

 

Susanne Fosse: There have been many films recently like Take the Lead (Hip Hop & Ballroom) and Save the Last Dance (Hip Hop and Ballet) which have combined dance styles on film. How did your film approach those fusions in your film?
 

Neeta Mittal :The character of Amy, the disabled dancer, starts out as over-confident with a lot of unbridled energy. To ensure that the wheelchair did not take that away, I decided to make the wheelchair hip and cool…hence the hip hop. Hip hop is raw force. Later on, Amy’s character needed to transition into a responsible prodigy. That required supplementing the character arc with a transition in dance style. Ballet puts great emphasis on the method and execution of movement. The transformation from Hip-hop to Ballet was very dramatic. In short, Hip-hop and Ballet were chosen as motifs to represent the contradictory entities of youth and wisdom, ability and disability, life and death.

Susanne Fosse: There is a wonderful sub-heading for the film "Disability meets ability and death meets life". Can you explain that?

Neeta Mittal : Amy loves to show off in her rocking wheelchair. She is over confident and almost disrespectful. Her real disability is her bad attitude. In Eva, the ballet teacher, she finds a mentor. On the other hand, Eva is battling leukemia. But it is not her imminent death, but the end of her legacy, that is disheartening her. That is when she meets Amy. She sees in Amy the fire and passion to give flight to her legacy.