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Lucknowites play suitable characters in Mira’s series!
Lucknow plays a character in Mira Nair’s newest series ‘A Suitable Boy,’ that was extensively shot in the state capital over the period of four months last year. Released in the UK recently, the six-part TV series is based on Vikram Seth’s bestseller with the same name.
Shot at number of heritage buildings of Lucknow, besides Kakori and Kanpur, the American-Indian director extensively gave roles to the locals with the ensemble cast. We spoke to few of them:
Educationist Zarine Viccajee plays actor Mahira Kakkar’s chatty friend Mrs Batliwala in the series. “I got along well with Mira as she is very fond of Parsis and then she is Loretoite (alumna of Loreto Convent) from Kolkata while I am from Lucknow which was the common ground. It was an enjoyable experience and I had a good number of scenes and dialogues during the shoot,” Zaraine said who has earlier featured in Sushain Bhatnagar’s film ‘Monika’ too.
Another educationist-career counsellor Amita Dass also features the series. “Being contacted out of the blues and landing the role of a ‘Sweet Lady’ after auditioning for the book reading scene with actor Mikhail Sen, one of the ‘suitable boys’ was the biggest surprise ever! The entire experience of two long days on the sets from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm was purely magical!”
Activist Sadaf Jafar plays Biboo, who is a governess of the courtesan Saeeda Bai played Tabu. “Biboo has the control over the household. I have a sizable role and hope to feature in almost all episodes. A lot of prominent people and places are seen in the series. It will be like watching wedding album of the city,” she says.
King George’s Medical University, La Martiniere Boys, Moin Saheb’s kothi in Chowk, Zeenat’s House, Oyl House and Takia Sharif mazaar in Kokari, have been distinctly shown,” adds Jafar.
“My residence has been displayed as one of the guest houses where one of the suitable boy (Namit Das) meets the girl (actor Tania Maniktala). My 1933-model Baby Austain and Ford Jeep (1942) have been used in the series. My wife has featured in the series in one of the scenes,” shares MA Khan.
“Our house (Narhi) features in practically every other frame. We spotted the staff and friends dressed up as extras in many frame,” said Zeena Raus, sister of Khalid Hameed.
Businessman Kiron Chopra is seen as chief justice of state at that period of time. “The court scene has been shot at KKV College. I pronounce a landmark judgment on land reforms. Besides, others, we had actor Ram Kapoor and Vinay Pathak in the courtroom. We have many others locals in the series. Jayant Krishna will also be seen as one of the dancers at the ball room event,” he said.
Veteran actor Dr Anil Rastogi features as a jeweller in one of the episodes. “I have two scenes. One of them was without dialogues while the other one has a few lines. Interestingly, its dubbing was done few weeks back at my home,” says the ‘Ishaqzaade’ actor.
Ila Kapoor, a teacher at La Martiniere Girls College, is seen as a professor during a literary gathering shot at KGMU. “I shot for two days at the medical college. It was a funny scene where I am in the front row of the professors. More than the length of role it was great working with ace professional’s like Mira Nair.”
Since the show had a UK release and it will be later streamed on an OTT platform in India the audience is yet watch the series. “I was surprised that from Dublin someone shared a picture with my niece in Delhi and she sent to me,” adds Kapoor. Her husband Pradeep has also featured as a professor in the series that stars Ishaan Khattar.