Decoding love

Nonika Singh

It all started with a simple yet profound question why did Sahiba break the arrows? But today as acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is ready to share his labour of love, an epic love story Mirzya, he seems to have all the answers. 

Why the director, who claims to share an umbilical chord with Punjab, decided to play out this greatest love story of Punjab’s folklore  in Rajasthan, why he chose debutant actors to play such intense parts and why no one else but Daler Mehndi seemed right for singing in a film which he calls the first true blue Indian musical.

But then Mirza Sahiban is a story that has stayed with him ever since he first saw its rendering on stage as a student in year 1982. The seed that lay dormant within him germinated when chai pe charcha with creative neighbour Gulzar led to a silent pact for greater understanding of Sahiba’s psyche. 

Gulzar by the way, he reminds you, has written a story for a film after 17 years and for another director the time line moves even further backwards. The story interestingly is set in modern times and the need to place it in a contemporary world too arose from yet another query that he threw at Gulzar—are there Mirza Sahibans in today’s world too.

Mehra, who professes to have read every conceivable book on love from its history to psychology to mythology, feels that the Mirza Sahiban tale is an unparalleled romantic tragedy.

Indeed, it’s his first love story and yes his previous two films were more inspirational than lovey-dovey tales. “Love”, too he insists “is inspirational.” But his take on love is as modern as the times in which the film is steeped. Of course, even in times when “relationships make and break at the twitter handle when people fall in love on Facebook pages” he believes sacrifice is the biggest emotion in love. “And few moments of love that we get to live are greater than a lifetime.”

Isn’t he taking a big chance with an intense love story, talking of love that is the stuff legends are made of? But then the director, who has delivered blockbusters (Rang De Basanti and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag) with rather unusual subjects previously, too doesn’t view cinema through the prism of commerce alone. Rather he lets the idea grow in him to a point where it becomes an obsession, a story that he can’t help but tell. And will he tell why Sahiba broke the arrows. “Most certainly, only it will be my interpretation.” His re-imagining of the legend has already found an entry into several prestigious festivals. Besides, Busan Film Festival, London Film Festival, it will also be shown in Chicago festival in a section called Musicals of the World. Mehra saw Mirzya as a musical, for isn’t the folktale always sung? Making a musical in a country where the  common understanding of a musical is a film with a dozen songs... isn’t that an insurmountable challenge? But then like Sahiban, Mehra doesn’t believe in easy choices. Only his dilemmas invariably end up as cinema that excites and motivates.  

Sincerely yours 

See him as Anil Kapoor’s son or fashionista Sonam Kapoor’s brother, Harshvardhan Kapoor stands his own ground. And he believes that the only way to silence detractors is by playing the character with sincerity. So, you think star sons have it easy. After all what else can explain his bagging three prestigious projects, even as we await the first release? 

He says, “Vikramaditya Motwane and Sriram Raghavan chose me after seeing the rushes of Mirzya.” Being an insider might have been a blessing few years ago but today he thinks thanks to Netflix and Torrent, the talent pool has become so wide that “no one will back you unless you can deliver.”

How well the debutant pair has delivered...? Well, the biggest nod of approval comes from none other than the director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra himself who dares, 

“Five minutes into the film and you will forget they are newcomers.’ 

Debutant is a term that Mehra doesn’t quite like, “for camera only knows and understands actors.”

Higher and  higher

A dream debut and one that has spoilt her rotten. That’s how the light-eyed beauty Sayaimi Kher puts her launch vehicle Mirzya. To be directed by Mehra whose Rang De Basanti is a cult film for her generation is the greatest privilege ever. Her next one could be with ace director Mani Ratnam.

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