Mirzya director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has worked with writer Gulzar to recreate the Punjabi folklore of Mirza-Sahiban in today’s times. The director chose to juxtapose the contemporary story with the older era. In an interview to Cinestaan.com, Mehra explains why they were compelled to make the older era (shot in Ladakh) look so fantastical. “When you are watching something so true and so real [in the contemporary love story] then when you juxtapose it with another era, it is should be fantastical,” he said.
But will this legendary love story be relevant in today’s time? "The pace of life has become fast, but the pace of your heart... it's still the same. So love is eternal," says Mehra.
Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher, who make their debut with Mirzya, have worked hard on the film for almost three years, including the preparation and the shooting. Kapoor had to go through a lot of physical training, learn to ride a bike on sand, train in horse-riding, archery and mounted archery. “Lot of people think its [physical and mental preparations] are a parallel thing. But it's a simultaneous thing. A lot of emotion comes from the physical. The work that you put in physical helps you get going [with the emotional aspect of the character],” says Kapoor.
While Kapoor's film influences come from his family and studying cinema in the US, Kher spoke about having no filmi influences (actress Usha Kiran was her grandmother, and Tanvi Azmi is her aunt) while growing up, as she was brought up in Nagpur, away from the limelight. The actress though was big on sports ever since she was a kid. She represented her college in nine different sports at one time. No wonder her biggest inspiration is a sports star. "Sachin Tendulkar is my biggest influence," says Kher.
Watch full interview.