Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra announced yesterday that he has finalised Saiyami Kher to play Sahiban in Mirzia, his next venture after Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Both Saiyami and Ayesha Kapoor went through a four-month workshop for the same role, with the former outrunning the Black actress, by a “very close” margin. 

 “In terms of the canvas and grandeur, it is bigger than anything I have ever done. Mirzia is a tragic love story, a musical with lots of action,” said the filmmaker. He further mentioned, “Saiyami worked on the character for several months and after a point we knew we had our Sahiban,”. He was unaware that she is Usha Kiran’s granddaughter and Shabana Azmi’s niece.

“My story is a fresh expression of love so I knew only newcomers could pull it off. I cast both Saiyami and Harshvardhan (Anil Kapoor’s son) purely on artistic merit.”