Mamta Anand from the cast The Winter of Love

Manta Anand’s quiet portrayal of Banger’s wife in ‘The Winter of Love’ (formerly ‘A Quiet Desperation’) reveals the loneliness and sorrow in a woman who has put everything into a marriage but finds herself rejected.In love with Banger, Mamta explores effectively the pitiful nature of the character’s need to be wanted by an uncaring husband. In the brief scenes that she has, Mamta manages to encapsulate an experience that is common for so many women, and she effectively transcends race.

Mamta has appeared in a number of productions produced by Falcon Films, in a few she has played the lead and created memorable performances. In Restless Sky, she played a homeless woman, living on memories. In Talking About Suicide, Mamta played the role of a depressed and battered woman on the verge of suicide.

A versatile actress with great depth, Mamta has appeared on stage and television. Her television appearances include Casualty, Waking The Dead, The Bill, 15 Stories High, Kismet Road and Dilly Down Town.

A regular artist with the Asian fringe theatre, Mamta has created many memorable roles ranging from a battered wife to supreme comedy. Productions include at the Lyric Hammersmith, When Amar met Jay. With RIFCO, she played the role of Shanti in Bollywood – Yet Another Love Story and she also appeared in RIFCO’s production of The Deranged Marriage. She has also worked extensively in Punjabi theatre as well as been involved in productions with Kali Theatre.

Recently, Mamta has ventured out in directing for community theatre with productions based at Watermans in Brentford.

The Crew of The Winter of Love

I am indebted by the incredible dedication that my producer Manjeet Singh showed whilst putting the film together. She managed to pull the production together and made the shoot possible against all odds. We were all unaware of the gravity of her condition and saw Manjeet continuing to work on the production despite having suffered a car accident. She is still recovering from the accidents and is as excited as I am to see the release of the DVD.

It would not have been possible to get the production off the ground had I not met with Ruhul Amin, a fellow film maker based in East London, who introduced me to Koutaiba Al-Janabi and recommended him as my Director of Photography.

Koutabia was very keen to work on 35mm and liked the idea of the project to be shot entirely on location, with no set building. His recent work had been on low budget films so he understood the need to be precise and hit the mark immediately. Of course his creative abilities played an overwhelming part in him coming on to the project.

Koutaiba introduced me to his ‘crew’ who worked with him as a complete unit. A mixture of experienced and in-experienced individuals meant energy and a vibrancy that was needed when working on the edge – which this project was.

The rest of the team included Assistant Director, Matthew Hope who ended up writing an aspect of the script with me; Focus Puller Thomas Theakstone, Gaffer Paul DeFriepas, Sparks Taimur Shuja Akhtar and Yves S Barre, and the soul of the party Clapper Loader Edward Ware made the shoot endurable and memorable. Other key members of the crew who worked relentlessly and with great passion included the sound department headed by Daniel Rosen along side Boom Operator Mark Hargreaves.

I was able to source other much needed individuals to cover the various departments that were as yet not confirmed. Continuity by Zac Rashid, Wardrobe by Abi Ward, assisted by Surina Mangat and Harjit Jatana, Makeup by Lucy Lebow and the Art department headed by the Art Director Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, assisted by Dandeep Wariabharaj and finally the Props department managed by Mamta Anand meant that we could finally get the show on the road.

Using the Avid facilities provided by Andy Isaacs at a very reasonable rate, Tanya Trohoulia and I set about editing the film.

Post production crew included the talented Julian MacDonald who created the Sound Design and mix and of course the original sound track was created and composed by the legendary Kuljit Bhamra.

When we ran out of money and couldn’t afford the catering by Omi’s restaurant, we had to resort to asking the family. And of course various cooks contributed to the production from Manjeet’s mum through to my sister, sometimes Harjit and at times I cooked for the crew.

I have a great affection for my crew and individuals who worked to make The Winter of Love possible. We were making a film in very difficult and adverse conditions and dealing with subject matters at the time and perhaps even now that were outside of the realms of the mainstream. I think this was recognised by all those involved and the film stands as a testament to their dedication to their craft and passion for making films in this country.