How difficult was it to play Mumtaz Mahal?
It was more of a responsibility than difficulty. It had to be done with conviction. The earlier Taj Mahal, with Pradeep Kumar and Bina Rai was so good. So I felt a responsibility to be convincing. The role had so many dimensions — Mumtaz is shown as a young girl, she matures, falls in love, marries, has children and becomes a queen. So the journey from youth to maturity, where I play beloved, mother, wife, was quite something. Robin gave me a bound script which was a massive help. He had the whole story board ready. I was aware of everything. Robin is also very good at making his actors comfortable, yet allowing them the space to give their input. But mostly, everything went according to script. But he was sensitive enough to understand that when one is acting as another character, a part of you has to step into the character’s shoes. So a bit of my own intelligence had to be used, too. And Robin did give me that space. You shot in Kashmir, didn’t you? Yes. I must admit I was scared b
