Stepping into Mumtaz Mahal's shoes...

Robin Khosla belongs to that young breed of directors whose disciplined approach to their profession pays rich dividends.

He did his Masters in film direction from Temple University, Philadelphia, and returned home to assist Muzaffar Ali, who was then making Zooni, a film based in Kashmir.

The film never got completed.

Robin moved on to direction. He made a television serial, Chand Grahan, again based in Kashmir. The serial is slated to come on early next year.

On his various trips abroad, Khosla always felt that the West was fascinated by the Taj Mahal. And he decided to make a film on the same.

"It's the only monument which is a tribute to love -- the other wonders of the world are either manmade or natural but have no such story behind them. I realised that though people abroad were interested in the Taj, they didn't know much about it. So I decided that the story should be unfolded.

"Since the story occurred in Kashmir, I decided to shoot there. It would have been impossible without the security provided by the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah.

"I feel this story is immortal and can be told to everyone at any age. Also, it bears repeated viewing due to its historical value. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly."

"Sunidhi Chauhan has sung an English number to Santosh Nair's composition. I have got Raghuraj playing prince Khurram and Purnima Patwardhan playing Mumtaz Mahal.

"It is being made in English, but will be dubbed in Hindi and other languages."

Lata Khubchandani spoke to Purnima Patwardhan, the heroine of Robin Khosla's Taj Mahal.

She looks like someone very familiar, until she grins and tells you that she's the youngest sister of Bhagyashree. Excerpts:

Were you absolutely raw when Robin Khosla signed you?

No, my first film was in 1986, The Bengali Night.

It was a French Production with Hugh Grant, Shabana Azmi and Supriya Pathak. It was being made for the Cannes film festival in French and English.

Around the same time, I had also worked with Amol Palekar in his television serial, Kachchi Dhoop, as a child star.

I won the best child artiste award for it.

What was your role in The Bengali Night?

I play the daughter of Shabana and the sister of Supriya Pathak. She is a kid who has this major crush on Hugh Grant. He, for his part, treats me as a kid, but loves my sister.

My character had negative shades, and I try to come in between my sister and her guy.

Where have you been since?

I got into modelling and the Femina Miss India Contest. I made it as finalist and messed up in the final question asked to me by Gayatri Devi.

She asked me something about reservations for women, and I said I didn't believe in them because that was like treating women as if they were not equal to men. But then I messed it up by saying something contrary.

Anyway that was an experience to remember. This was in 1997, the year that Diana Hayden won.

How did Taj Mahal happen?

I met Robin Khosla in 1998 through Santosh Nair, the music composer, a close friend of mine. I had been training in music and wanted to get into the field.

He invited me for a recording where Robin was also present. I was casually dressed. When I got back home, Santosh told me that Robin wanted to meet me. We met. And I got the film.

It was a wonderful experience, a prestigious project for me because it deals with our history. It is one of the best love stories of our times.

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 because the bomb blasts had started and there was a lot of security. But I was always reassured by the producer that I would be looked after. And I was.

It was a pleasure working with him. It was an international project and I am very pleased that it was my first project. I am extremely happy with the film.