EXCLUSIVE | Amazon Prime Video's 'Mirzapur' director Gurmmeet Singh: 'Javed Akhtar told me he didn't want to watch the show because...'

Set in India’s hinterland, the Mirzapur franchise has captivated millions with its gripping saga of power, revenge, ambition, politics, betrayal, deceit, and intricate family dynamics. Building on the spine-chilling climax of the previous season, the trailer for Mirzapur Season 3 takes viewers back into an intriguing, yet a dark and brutal world of crime and power in Purvanchal. It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds and the creative envelope of storytelling is pushed further in the new season.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, director Gurmmeet Singh, and actors Ali Fazal, Anjumm Sharma, and Harshita Gaur open up on the cult the show has bloomed into, the iconic lines and characters, and now stepping into season three.

Edited excerpts from the interview

Gurmmeet, the world of Mirzapur looks real, rustic, rooted but also very stylish. How have you and your whole team managed to create this blend?

I think one step at a time. Writing is the base and Puneet Krishna and Apurva Dhar, I think both have lived this life. They have been in UP they have grown up So all the rust, all the authenticity comes from them and then it got translated by all the actors who thankfully came from that region. Very few who didn’t belong to that milieu got well versed with that milieu. The script was so dark that we had to tone it down. So, in fact on screen, Mirzapur is always shown with a lot of hope. People will find it very weird to hear this, but despite the darkness in the world, despite the that happens and things go, my take as director is to always give hope. So, you are always trying to find hope in your characters and hoping they come out of the situation. We are never trying to take the audience down to the area where is no hope. So regardless of how bad the situation can be, there is always ray of light in that speed we want to take everyone too.

Ali, talking about your iconic character, it has grit, it has anger but it also has a lot of humor. So how did you manage that blend as an actor?

I had to because we all have that naturally in life. Some of the darkest situation sometimes turn out to be funny. But it was so beautifully written actually. I have added some of my own nuances and the base of my character that was very strong. We keep taking Puneet Krishna’s name because that’s where the credit lies for creating the menace inside this guy’s head and even all the other characters. Then, I started of course, it’s always fun when I can take it to a place where it’s unpredictable. It’s all those layers of different flavors. You get in the right situation. Like I thought I wouldn’t change a thing in season 2. I got a lot of abuses since I was not doing pretty much anything in season two but that’s how it is. We have to be selfish about that if we want to be, what you call it, all loving.

Anjumm, how was your prep like as an actor for the character of Sharad?

So it started from the script initially then there was there were n number of conversation between me and Gurumeet. We can just go on chatting about it, but the first top of my mind, the first 2-3 things were that I mean we wanted to make him a guy who is not a protagonist, but he is not also antagonist. So it had to be somewhere in between, he was always walking in a very thin line. The biggest challenge was to get what he is talking but also to get what he is thinking. In every scene that was a conscious effort to get as audience should feel what he is thinking. So that was the kind of the larger stroke of the character and plus there were, I mean the dialect, there was a lot of research that was happening like I wanted to see how not only from anybody from this world but anybody who is an intellectual person in that region, how do they talk? When they talk about something very important, they take time to think.

So those were the kind of things, it was quite a layered and as in, as we progressed in the season, in the story, especially in this season, the layers in the things just got added I mean and the things become more complex complicated but also entertaining.

Harshita, do you see any similarities between you and Dimpy?

No. And just the fact she values her father’s opinions a lot. But I think Dimpy is very morally correct, very decisive, and very logical, and I am not.

Gurmeet, when did you and your entire team realize that it has become a cult?

We still feel scared to accept it, but I think maybe 5-6 months down the line of season 1, at least we came to know the viewers have liked it. Very recently, I think almost only a year year and a half back, Javed Akhtar called. He had just seen the show very late and he said he didn’t see the show earlier because he was told it had a lot of foul language. He was traveling to Delhi and he met these 3-4 women, he said very highly educated sophisticated women who were discussing about Mirzapur. He then decided to watch the show and saw both the seasons on two consecutive days. The entire team, the cast and everyone feels very blessed and we know we are very lucky and we don’t take this for granted but we know people like it and we are very pleased.

Ali, in these 15 years, having worked in Hollywood, in web and now in films, how have you, I want to use the word saved. How have you saved yourself from getting stereotype because once an actor becomes a star because of that one character and in your case, we have many examples. We have 3 idiots, we have Fukrey, Mirzapur. So how have you managed to not stereotype yourself?

I mean, I hope I haven’t. You have to tell me that, all the audiences. I just smell it may be and I run to the other direction. But I have been lucky. I mean god willing you know things have life has thrown at me from all sides of the narrative story telling. I hope I can keep exploring it. Selfishly if I say, I don’t want to get bored of myself. And that’s why I keep doing it.

Anjumm, after having made choices Slumdog Millionaire, Wazir, and now Mirzapur . Now what would you like your future slate to look like? Do you have a plan?

No, I don’t have a plan plan kind of a thing but I think I mean, I always like to go back to because the thing is when you’re doing something and sometimes it works sometimes, the choice doesn’t work. So I think it’s always better to go back to the original, the first thought and idea which made you make a certain choice that’s the content, that’s the script, that’s your director, the role, everything. Like if it really resonates with you, if you like it, I would say I mean all these things landed in Mirzapur because such a show, such a content, such a character and such an opportunity to work with a fantastic cast like this is rare in itself. So, I know these things doesn’t happen very often, but again, when you are making choices in your work and your future plans, these are the things which are important for me.

Gurmmeet, I think every actor has reached the peak of superstardom only because of some iconic dialogues and Mirzapur is filled with so many iconic dialogues. So what was the prep behind making such classic lines when did you know the lines have become classic?

We didn’t have too much of a meme culture when the first season came in. Like I said, on paper, only there were some great dialogues but what we have realized actually over the years is the simplest lines are the ones that are always saying. On paper, you can never decide oh this is going to be a hit line. It’s how they say it what the context is then that just sticks with them and the other thing is I don’t think any of them have peaked.

Anjumm: Just to add because this is a very interesting question on the dialogue thing. Even if you see the greatest dialogues of Salim-Javed. Even if you see a film like Deewar, there’s scene when Mr. Bachchan says Main Aaj Bhi Phenke Hue Paise Nahin Uthata. It is a big line because the moment this line is said, there is a big drama behind that line which gets triggered so only because of that it becomes such an iconic line, and the same thing is with Mirzapur. The lines which have been popular obviously there are some humorous lines, some lines which has advise but apart from that the line which has drama.