The director of films like Aks (2001), Rang De Basanti (2006) and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra talks about his latest venture, Mirzya, which introduces Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher to films.
Mirzya straddles two different time spans. What went into deciding Harshvardhan’s look?
I think we have got too used to six packs these days. Mirzya’s character was not that of a boxer. His character required a certain physicality. After finishing that, we took a seven-month break because they had to prepare in a different way for another film within a film, for another character, in a different zone altogether! Harsh had given me 18 months before the shooting to work on the role first and do the prep. Harsh and Saiyami are doing double roles in their first film and it’s not easy to do so in your first film. So for six months, they prepared again. If you study horse riding and mountain archery you get a very lean and athletic look about you.
What is Mirzya’s link to Ladakh?
I can talk on Ladakh for months. This film is a lok katha, a folktale; the legend of Mirza-Sahiban reverberates even in today. I wanted to recreate the folklore from my imagination. It is timeless...the world which I caught from the script. Ladakh has always given me the feeling that’s its eternal; that nothing has touched it from day one. I first went there for my honeymoon 25 years ago and since then I have gone there every year — sometimes twice a year — and I still haven’t even explored 10% of that land. If the souls of Mirza and Sahiban was somewhere, it could be in a pure place like Ladakh.
How did you decide upon casting two newcomers — Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher?
This is my fifth film. I haven’t made many films in 15 years. So many times, we think that there’s a word called ‘I’ — I did this, I wrote this, I directed it, I cast him, I thought of that... I feel that somewhere destiny plays a role and the right thing happens if you trust something which is larger than you. It might sound philosophical but on a logical level I trust my instincts a lot. That small voice inside you is actually the loudest but we let it down in the confusion around us. My instincts took me to Gulzar saab (who has written the screenplay and the lyrics). He lives just 30 minutes away from my house but it took me 35 years to work with him. My instincts took me to both Saiyami and Harshvardhan and destiny brought us together. I can give you 101 reasons — I won’t be able to sleep tonight because I will feel I haven’t told you enough reasons. There is something more — we didn’t just make a film together; we have spent the last three years together.