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"This is for my Mom,” announced Meher Tatna, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) that produces the Golden Globe Awards, reportedly one of the three most-watched awards shows on television. Tatna was referring to the red embellished gown that she had donned for the Golden Globes function at the Beverly Hilton ballroom in Los Angeles on January 7, 2018 when she stood out among the black beauties. Barring two actresses, the others had chosen to conform to the unwritten, all-black dress code that they had adopted to show their solidarity with Hollywood’s Time’s Up movement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To express her support for the movement against sexual discrimination and harassment, Tatna had worn the Time’s Up black pin on her lapel but cited "cultural” reasons for staying away from a black attire, in particular her mother Nargis’ aversion to see any family member robed in black at a celebratory event. The first major awards function following the #MeToo awakening, Tatna had commented, "I am really glad that women are finally feeling safe enough to come forward and talk about their experiences. I am totally in solidarity with them. It’s not just in Hollywood that this happens. I was a waitress — the groping and pinching happened… Back then, nobody felt safe enough to say anything. You thought you’d be fired; you’d be ostracized. So I’m glad that they found that power and I hope that this is a time of profound change.”
A fortnight later when she was on a visit to Bombay, during a telephonic chat with Parsiana she reiterated that her sartorial choice was finalized before the Time’s Up movement gained momentum. Keen to "wear an attire designed by an Indian,” she had scoured different websites and was most impressed by the work of "Anamika Khanna based in Calcutta. I would like to give the designer due credit,” she stressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Tatna, her outfit was a relatively marginal issue compared to the other logistics that had to be overseen. "The Globes are like a machine. We have a pre-show with Facebook. A post-show with Twitter. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘I didn’t answer this email. I better get back to this person’… It’s like 100 weddings in one,” Tatna had conveyed in an interview with vanityfair.com. Expecting a greater turnout for HFPA’s 75th anniversary this year, the organizers had planned an ‘overflow room’ at the Hilton to accommodate those who could not fit in the bustling ballroom.
Ostensibly in Bombay to spend time with the family, her role as HFPA president keeps her preoccupied with other commitments, requiring her to check her emails throughout the day, more so since she has to work across different time zones, points out Tatna. During the 15 years she has been HFPA member, she has worked as office bearer for 10, either as treasurer, executive secretary or vice president. Being a president though "is almost a full-time job with a lot more responsibilities. I have pretty much the last word although that does not mean that any decisions are taken unilaterally. There is a core team of office bearers and directors working together,” she lets us know.
The 2018 Golden Globes may have just got over but already the HFPA team is in the process of deciding a date for the 2019 Awards function. Their major funding is derived from the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) that has the broadcast rights for the Awards night. Since the contract with NBC ends this year, currently Tatna is awaiting NBC’s verdict on whether they wish to renew the deal.
And Golden Globes is just one of HFPA’s many concerns, an activity that starts their calendar year since it is invariably held in January. As a non-profit organization HFPA regularly contributes to other institutions connected with the entertainment industry and involved in educational, cultural and humanitarian activities. Their main aim is to promote interest in the study of the arts, develop talent and restore films. "While the majority of grants are given to Los Angeles based organizations, the HFPA Trust also supports educational institutions and selects wider reaching programs that are national, and in limited cases international in scope,” states their website. Over the years their grants have totaled USD 32 million (Rs 204 crores), specifies Tatna.
Membership meetings are held every month for their 90 odd members who disseminate information about movies and television through the publications they write for. "Each year members interview more than 400 actors, directors, writers and producers, as well as report from film sets and see more than 300 films. Members also attend film festivals in other countries in order to seek out interesting and innovative foreign language films and establish cultural bonds with directors, actors, jurors and fellow journalists around the world,” as reported on the HFPA website.
A maximum of five journalists are admitted to HFPA each year. To qualify as a member, applicants must have a permanent, primary residence in southern California; be active and regular Hollywood correspondents who are representatives of at least one regularly published newspaper or periodical of recognized standing in a foreign country, published outside the United States; be registered with the Motion Picture Association of America in their international directory for at least one year preceding the date of the membership application. Even those already on the membership roster are subject to annual scrutiny of their journalistic activities. "I was lucky I got in right away,” says Tatna who knows of others who have been required to make two or three applications. Whilst currently Tatna is a reporter for a Singapore daily, The New Paper, there was a time when she would contribute to Indian publications like Vogue, Elle, Grazia.
Born in Bombay, Tatna had evinced leadership qualities since her early days when she was elected head girl in her final year of studies at the J. B. Petit High School for Girls. She then joined St Xavier’s College for a brief time before earning a scholarship to graduate in economics from Brandeis University in Boston, Massachusetts. Keen to make a career in acting, she went to a drama school in New York but unable to make a living in this field she moved to entertainment journalism and relocated to Los Angeles where she has been residing for several years with her husband Jimmy Colabavala who is an accountant. For the Golden Globes this year, Jimmy was with her as also her brother Zubin who works for an advertising agency in Bombay.
As a child, she remembers being taken to a fire temple on special occasions by her parents Nargis and Jamshed (now deceased, her father ran a liquor business) "but I just moved away from it,” she says matter-of-factly, preferring to describe herself as "a lax Parsi” who stopped wearing the sudreh-kusti and praying a while ago. Unable to comprehend the community logic in refusing to accept children of outmarried Parsi ladies, she says, "It just makes no sense to me. It is ridiculous, more so when our numbers are dwindling.” An infrequent participant in the activities of the Zoroastrian Association of California, citing distance as a reason, Tatna declares, "I just believe in leading a good life. I try to be good and do good.”