Was Bollywood star Tabu always a first choice?
Mira Nair: No but she has proved a great choice. Because it was Bengali and I know Bengal very well, I wanted it to be a Bengali actress initially. So I saw a few but then realised that Tabu was the best person. She’s not Bengali but she’s absolutely reinvented herself and the Bengalis are ecstatic. Q. Her chemistry with Irfan Khan [who plays her husband] is brilliant, especially in their ability to convey feelings without words. Did it help that they’d worked together before? Mira Nair: Yes because it meant they were comfortable. But that’s what I try and do in my films anyway is to take away the words – to not make it a reading experience but a viewing one. Q. How did you arrive at the casting of Kal Penn as Gogol because this is a very different kind of dramatic role for him… Mira Nair: I didn’t know about him. My 15-year-old son cast him essentially by bringing him to my attention. He was sure he should play Gogol. I didn’t know him and I wasn’t so impressed when he showed me Kal o
