KOLKATA: As Jacqueline Fitschi-Cornaz walked through the streets of central Kolkata, clad in the blue-bordered white saree of the Missionaries of Charity, it was as if a younger Mother Teresa had come back to life.
Essaying the role of the Nobel prize winning nun, often called the ‘saint of the gutters’, long before she was canonised, Swiss-born Cornaz feels the experience in making the movie ‘Mother Teresa & Me’ has been a “life changing one”.
The movie, which shows the Mother’s life from the 1950s onwards, intertwined with the lives of two more Indian protagonists, also stars actress Deepti Naval and Banita Sandhu, a British actress of Punjabi descent, and is directed by Kamal Musale, a Swiss-Indian filmmaker.
“It was an incredible experience to be in Mother House, to meet Sister Prema and other nuns. And the most touching experience was to see her shoes as if I could see her walking in them. As if I could feel her feet, which traversed many miles,” Cornaz said.
Cornaz, an actress with over three decades of experience, is co-producing the movie with director Kamal Musale and two more European producers, and feels what makes the movie interesting is it delves into the “darkness” which the Mother experienced.
In 2007, a book of letters written by Mother Teresa of Kolkata was published, which revealed she was deeply tormented about her faith and suffered periods of doubt about God. The movie depicts how Mother Teresa set up a hospice next to Kalighat temple in a derelict building and the initial hostility she faced from many quarters.
