American Cinematographer Joshua Echevarria makes his debut in Bollywood with the upcoming psychological thriller Mirror Game. The film revolves around a university professor (Pravin Dabas) who is looking for a means to get away from his troubles that include a crumbling marriage and a failing career. Joshua, who has extensively worked on short films and documentaries, also ventures into the full length feature format with this film.

Joshua Echevarria

Joshua Echevarria

Talking about his approach to the film, the cinematographer says, “Mirror Game isn’t a traditional Bollywood film per se. I approached the film as I would with any narrative project. I just followed the story and did what worked best for it.”

Since the film is set in New Jersey, how did they go about choosing the locations? “Some of the choices were made in pre-production as Vijit (Sharma, director), Hari (Kapoor, Associate Director) and I scouted, shortlisted and met consistently to prepare for this. But some choices were made on set, especially at the house location.” Elaborating on the treatment adopted to shoot the film, Joshua says, “As we grew accustomed to the space, and how our protagonist developed and changed in this space, we adjusted the way we shot there.”

Being his first experience in India and with a Hindi film, didn’t language pose a barrier? “As far as language barriers go, the script I read was in English so I had a complete understanding of what each scene was and the important beats that took place throughout the film.” One look at the trailer and you know what he means, as the cinematographer has caught on to every beat of the story.

Summarizing his experience, Joshua says, “It was a hugely collaborative effort which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It helped that Vijit knew what he wanted and had a clear vision. A special thanks to Hari who was our backbone throughout this project.”

Written and directed By Vijit Sharma, Mirror Game is slated to release on June 2, 2017.