Hala Director Minhal Baig On Making A Movie For First Generation Muslim-Americans

By Monica Castillo


Minhal Baig’s coming-of-age drama Hala is an intimate look at the experience of growing up as a Muslim-American teenaged girl In the
U.S.. Furthermore to usual teen anxieties like worrying about college and fitting in, Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) also has to comply with her conservative Pakistani parents' rules. As an example, Hala isn't allowed to stay out late or hang out with gentlemen, even at the skatepark she often frequents. So any time if she begins to develop feelings for a classmate, she has to manage this new set of emotions with her parents' expectations.


Hala is about someone finding their voice and identity, a universal concept. However the film also captures an experience rarely told on-screen. There’s so much nuance in Hala’s story, enriching the movie with specifics that feel relatable to just about any first or second generation child of immigrants.


Hala earned thunderous reception at its Sundance premiere over the weekend, so much so that Apple acquired the film's global distribution rights couple of a day or two later — marking the tech giant's first buy at the festival. MTV News discussed with writer and director Baig about her experience making the movie, working with Viswanathan to develop the character, and writing Hala’s story.


MTV News: At the premiere, you Facetimed your mom and mentioned she didn’t know you had made a movie and that it played at Sundance. I have to ask, how did you keep a secret like that from your mom?


Minhal Baig: Well, it's easy to keep a secret as soon as your mom doesn't have a smartphone, doesn't use The world wide web, and doesn't watch American TV or movies. That definitely assists the. In the method of writing, it was really personalized for me, and I wanted to prepare ensure that I wasn't thinking the whole time how my family member would feel about it. Because I think that would add another layer. I would habitually be worried, "Is this OK?"


I'm sourcing some things in this movie that are challenging to talk about. Especially indoor of my own family member, so much is unspoken and unsaid, and I think it would have been hard for me to tell my mom and then worry about how lose receive the movie. What I'd like to do is tell Hala's story as honestly as possible and do justice by her and do right by the movie. And then, tell my mom at some point.


MTV News: Were there any moments you determined that it could be better to differentiate it from your family?


Baig: In writing it, it was key for me to distinguish that I am not Hala. Hala's a character. She is wrestling with several of the same issues that I was wrestling with, yet the story is fictional. My mom isn't the mom in the story. My dad isn't the dad in the story. They are all composites of people. There really are pieces of my mom in several of the characters. There really are pieces of me in several of the characters. Several of the specifics and the texture of the story in the backdrop are lifted from my life. It's set in Chicago, where I was place on Earth and raised.


The language they speak at residence is Urdu. Eram (Hala’s mom, played by Purbi Joshi) and Zahid (Hala’s dad, played by Azad Khan) speak Urdu to each other. Eram speaks Urdu to Hala. Hala answers in English every time. Hala only speaks to her dad in English. So, that dynamic is really crucial for me to have in the movie because it speaks to how she feels about her parents, however her own connection to her culture.


Hala director Minhal Baig


MTV News: In a lot of coming-of-age stories, the ladies are kept very asexual or just have a crush and nothing else happens. In Hala, it’s not just a crush however she has sexual feelings and acts on those feelings. What made you determine to include that in the story?


Baig: It was hard As soon as I was writing it because I was feeling very susceptible. The way I was raised, we didn't talk about sex in our residence. It was challenging to even write it. I came to learn that I required to include it in the story because it felt trustworthy to Hala's journey. That is who she is and that's a segment of her life.


I wanted young females who watch the movie to feel like this is a thing that happens throughout your life, so you could might not have the ability to talk about it with your family members. I think if they never get to be able to see that, then it's almost like I'm skipping the hard part. If I was younger, my parents would skip via sex scenes [in movies] because they were attempting to protect us. That's good at a certain age, however as I grew older, I felt like it was something I wanted converse with somebody about. I want young females have the ability to watch the movie and really feel like oh, that is me and I am a sexual being. And I have my own sexual company. And masturbating and having sex, those are things that young Muslim ladies do.


MTV News: Is there a scene that you particularly enjoyed filming the most?


Baig: I think the sex scene was crucial for me in writing the story and then directing it. I've saw a lot of sex scenes where it's the male gaze, so, it was really essential for us to live with her and experience it as she experiences it. And it's uncomfortable. It's absolutely uncomfortable. It's tough because she's going through. It's hard any time whenever you have all these expectations of what that experience could be like, also it doesn't match up. It's devastating yet also sort of funny at the same time.


I heard the audience laughing and I really appreciated that, because I do think that's absolutely how one would react seeing this unfold. Yet also that, for her personally, something has changed where she recognizes that this magic which she thought was going to just come so obviously, does not.


MTV News: It does feel like Hala's a little bit resentful of her culture at first, nevertheless then at the end, she's sort of at peace with it and reconnects with it in her own way.


Baig: It was key to show that Hala isn't rejecting her faith or her culture. I think it's really complex – even for first generation Muslim-Americans. We're almost living in two worlds, and we're attempting to reconcile this. Because we stay In the
U.S., And nevertheless we also have our faith. It's essential have the ability to also be true to ourselves. In Hala's story, it was critical for her, near the end of the film, to know that her relationship with her faith and her culture might not directly be the relationship that her parents have to their faith and their culture. It's her own and on her own terms.


MTV News: There’s this pretty love story of Hala falling for Jesse (Jack Kilmer), the scenes of those walking and talking about poetry. How did you come up with it?


Baig: That was very much pulled out of my own life. I really wanted Jesse to be someone who was meeting Hala at her level. They share interests. I wanted to show a young man who's sensitive plus a very empathetic person, however he's also still a teenager.


I wanted that story to be very realistic. Hala has so much going on at house that he doesn't know about, and she pushes him away at a certain point. I think there's anticipation for that relationship to have this magic and this "We're going to run away with each other order kind of feeling. The reality several of those relationships at that age is that there's this magic at this moment, and it's very special, and yes it might be very fleeting.


MTV News: What was that like working with Geraldine Viswanathan to develop Hala?


Baig: Geraldine is an incredibly talented actress. She is known for comedic gifts, although in this film, she really demonstrates all of her dramatic chops. She has something that is very unexpected. If I was looking for Hala, I could have been looking for something that I envisioned in my head. Once Geraldine came into the picture, the character became something different. I recognized that so much would be communicated without saying anything because she is so expressive. And there's so much going on underneath the surface any time you're looking at her.


Geraldine brought levity to Hala. I think teenagers like Hala at that age are very self-serious and are worried about the grand dramatic questions of life, of what do I have to mention? And is anything that I mention even critical? Or has it not already been written? That's heavy existential thinking for a teenager.


Hala star Geraldine Viswanathan at Sundance.


MTV News: You also used an inclusion rider (a contract clause that guarantees a certain quantity of diversity on set) for Hala. What’s that like to put into practice?


Baig: I wanted ladies at the table because I want the female perspective at the table. This is a young woman's coming-of-age story. It's absolutely key to have females all over the movie. So, as soon as we were hiring department heads, I had every intention of hiring the perfect candidates. They were all my first choice hires. No one passed on the film.


It was absolutely incredible because all these females came with each other and made this movie. I wanted girls to surround the film to challenge me and make it better, and to create it more authentic. Because I do think it's their story also. As soon as I'm hiring people, I'm hiring them for their lived experiences and their perspective. You could be a cinematographer, although you have a point of view on a story. Each and every person that was hired — Carolina Costa, our cinematographer; Sue Tebbutt, our production designer; Mandy Hoffman, the composer; Saela Davis, the editor — all of those females filled the movie with all of that life.


I have to mention that it was a magnificent experience working with so several girls. I went to a production meeting and it's all girls, and I've never been on a set like that before. Each person was listening to each other. It was incredibly collaborative, and it's open. They are incredibly good at their jobs. Inclusion is really key because you need different voices and perspectives to prepare the story better. I don't think it's more hard to hire females. I think you must to create an effort. You must ask around and look outdoor your immediate social circles and ask for reels and resumes and suggestions. It's well worth it because it makes the movie better.


MTV News: And one of the ladies who joined your production was Jada Pinkett Smith. How did she join your movie?


Baig: For Jada, it was also a really personalized story. She felt like she really wanted to support an artist who would not otherwise get resources or have the ability to share their story. So, as soon as Jada came on board, I pitched her the movie and she watched the short, and she felt like it resonated with her. It was sort of immediate immediately after that. She wanted to help me in whichever way she might and pool her resources for me. She was also very much like, "I trust you. You're the director. You know what you're doing."