Director Hemnt Pradeep on his directorial debut 'Mmirsa'!

After working in the television industry for more than 23 years and directing a number of hit shows for producers like Ekta Kapoor, Hemnt Praddeep is making his Hindi film directorial with ‘Mmirsa’. Bollywood & TV Reporter, Mohnish Singh, catches up the director and tried to find out what his film is all about.

What your directorial film Mmirsa is all about?

As the name suggests itself, the film is about Mirza – Sahiba. It is a very famous folk love story of Punjab, like Laila-Maju, Shirin Farhad and so on. One of the most important aspects of the lore, which inspired me to make this film, was that Sahiba has been described as unfaithful by many people, because, to save the lives of her brothers, she broke Mirza’s arrows. This incident led people believe that Sahiba was unfaithful. My film is narrated from the point of view of Sahiba and tries its best to clear the misunderstanding, that she was not disloyal. She loved Mirza dearly, but circumstances were such that led to the killing of him. Even Mirza believed he died because of Sahiba. To clear this misunderstanding my characters take rebirth in modern times, but again they face the same consequences. This is Mmirsa for you.

If I am not wrong, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s upcoming directorial ‘Mirzya’ is also on the same lines...

I don’t know. They are also following Mirza-Sahiba and, if the trailer and songs of the film are anything to go by, they too seem to have contemporized it. I mean their story also seems to be based in the modern times. But I have no idea how much similarity is going to be there between both the films.

Please, tell us something about the cast of your film and how has been your experience working with them?

My main leads…both are newcomers. It is their first film. But in supporting cast, I have got Mr. Kabir Bedi, Ranjeet, Farida Jalal, Ravi Kishan, Deepshikha and Amit Bhel. So in the supporting cast, all are the very mainstream actors. Since the film had newcomers in the main lead, so I wanted a nice backing of experienced actors to support them.

Music plays an important role when it comes to romantic films in Bollywood. So, tell us something about your film’s music.

As you rightly put, music is a very important aspect of a romantic film. In this film also, music is mind-blowing. Meet Bros have composed fantastic music for the film. It is their first complete album. Generally, they compose one or two songs for a movie, but for ‘Mmirsa’, they have done the complete soundtrack with lyrics by Kumaar. They have really worked hard. There are total four songs in the film: two of them are lip-synched, rest two play in the background. Talented singers like Mohit Chauhan, Palak Muchchal, Sukhwinder Singh, Meet Brothers and Amit Gupta have sung them. Remo D’Souza has choreographed all the songs very beautifully. Overall setup is good. Best of technicians have worked with me.

Your film releases on 30^th of September. How are you going to promote this?

See, I am trying my level best to take my film to as many people as possible. I am not a big director or producer. This is my first film. I am relatively unknown in cinema where no one knows me. So, promoting the film is going to be a difficult fight, but I am ready to take any challenge.

You began your journey from television…

Yes, I have worked for television for more than 23 years.

Has the experience helped you while making this film?

Of course, yes. In the period of 23 years, I directed a string of top shows from Ekta Kapoor’s serials to Cinevistas’. I have directed a few series for National Geographic Channel also. Besides that, I have done more than 70 commercials, along with a few corporate films. But when you come to entertainment industry, film is your ultimate goal.