MUMBAI: Vinay Shukla’s directorial venture Mirch is slated to release on 10 December, 2010.
After Godmother, Shukla once again tackles the power issue in a man-woman relationship in Mirch.
Shukla says, “One character in Mirch says, ‘My grandmother used to say that when the mind is in a dilemma, one should listen to stories: stories are a treasure trove of wisdom.’ Another character, at another point, declares that stories are magic. I believe that a civilization dies when it stops telling stories. Mirch is structured like a square with a cross-section of four squares within it. Each square represents one season, has a different colour-palette and contains a story complete in itself with a witty twist in the end. The stories run the course of time; from ancient India to today’s India. The first story has been sourced from the ancient Sanskrit classic, the Panchtantra; the source of the second story is the 14th century Italian classic, the Decameron, by Boccaccio. Inspiration for the third story comes from another ancient Italian story. Rest of the two stories are penned by me.”
Besides Shukla, who has also written the film, Mirch stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Boman Irani, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav, Shahana Goswami and Arunoday Singh.
“While, under the garb of adultery, these stories celebrate womanhood; the film, also, grapples with the perennial conflict between the artist and the marketing forces. From the changes in the spoken language to the narrowing of space through the ages have, also, been my areas of concern in the treatment of the film. Personally, Mirch, is an attempt to find my voice,” adds Shukla.
Mirch is about Maanav a struggling filmmaker who is unwilling to compromise on the script he has written. His girlfriend Ruchi, a film editor, arranges for him to meet Nitin, a film producer. Nitin likes the script, but is not very sure of its commercial prospects. Maanav then suggests a story from the Panchtantra. Nitin loves the story, but finds it too short for a feature film. Maanav then creates three more stories based on the same premise in a way, the Panchtantra story travels in different versions to the modern times through the film. The four stories are woven together by a common story.
