Mira Nair will collaborate with Vishal Bhardwaj and Jaideep Sahni on 12

Mira Nair will collaborate with Vishal Bhardwaj and Jaideep Sahni on 12 songs for Monsoon Wedding’ Broadway version.

“Delhi goes to the West, and now Broadway comes to Mumbai,” is how Mira Nair describes her journey from Delhi to the Broadway stage version of Monsoon Wedding.

Mira will be in Mumbai at the end of June to record 12 fresh songs with Vishal Bhardwaj and writer Jaideep Sahni for the stage adaptation of Monsoon Wedding.

Some of the music in the staged version of Monsoon Wedding would be from the film. But most of it would be original. Says Mira, “That’s when Vishal will be free from his own film (Saat Khoon Maaf). At the end of June we’re going to put our heads together for a dozen new songs that will be aimed at an international audience. Jaideep is a brilliant writer. He has an uphill task penning words in English, Punjabi and Hindi.”

One of the songs is called ‘Aunty Is Coming’. Chortles Mira, “Now it’s up to Vishal and Jaideep to explain to the audience how generic the term ‘Aunty’ is to India and Indians.”

Before the play goes on Broadway next year, Mira Nair begins shooting her next film, an adaptation of the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist which needs to be shot in Pakistan. But the question is: would an Indian filmmaker based in the US be allowed to shoot in that country? The tricky political situation between Pakistan and India could thwart all her attempts to shoot the film there.

Says Mira, “I begin shooting in October. About 50 percent of the film needs to be shot in the US. 10 percent in Chile and the rest in Lahore. I’d love to remain authentic to the locale, if I’m permitted to.”