As the granddaughter of actress Usha Kiran and niece of Tanvi Azmi, acting comes naturally to Saiyami Kher. Bollywood film promotions, she admits, is a different ballgame altogether. So when the publicist walks in at the 15 minute mark, it is 24-year-old Kher who requests for more time on our behalf and apologises for the interruption. "If Rakeysh Sir knew this is how the interviews are being done, he wouldn't allow it," says Kher. "It [promotions] is something I wasn't mentally prepared for. You can't train for this. You never know what will come your way."
Despite having acting running in the family - Shabana Azmi is also family - Kher grew away from the limelight. Her father, Adwait Kher, a former model, and mother Uttara Mhatre, a former Miss India, raised her and her sister, Saunskriti, in Nashik. Kher cherishes the middle-class upbringing in a small town. Says Kher, "They wanted to keep us away from the film industry. What they succeeded in doing was to make sure we were level-headed and aware that the film world is just one part of a much bigger world." Until she was 14, the only films Kher she had seen were Dumbo and Toy Story. Watching films really happened when she moved to Mumbai to study at St Xavier's College.
It isn't surprising then that Saiyami's first love is sports. The lower you go on her Twitter page the more you will see proof of her interest in sports. She grew up playing badminton and cricket at state level. She was even called for selection in the national women's cricket team. But she soon turned to modelling "because at one point I realised it doesn't make sense to take it up [sport] professionally if I can't make it to the main squad". Around this time she also took to theatre in college and began travelling for shoots which she loved. She had done her first film - Rey, a Telugu feature - when she was 19 but an opportunity from Bollywood didn't come her way until Oct 2013 when she was approached for Mirzya. "I have auditioned for hundreds of things, waiting in long queues in Aram Nagar. So when this film came along I was like one more audition," she says. "I did some eight to ten auditions. It was between me and another girl. Rakeysh Sir sent me to Delhi where I trained with Dilip Shankar and Adil Hussain."
Kher credits the three months she spent doing acting workshops with Shankar and Hussein in Delhi to prepare for as being a life-changing experience. "They have trained me for life. One of the days we were doing an intense exercise and I never in my wildest imagination thought I could reach emotionally there," she says. "For three days I was just blown away by what I had discovered about myself. I realised that this is something I want to do all my life. Forget the glamour and fame, what really drives me is that you learn about yourself when you are acting and get to play so many different people. I did theatre with Nadira ji [Zaheer Babbar] in Ekjute [group] and did workshops with Neeraj Kabi [actor of Ship of Theseus and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy]. But these three months in Delhi I feel brought my life in the right direction. After I came back from Delhi, I had to test again. I was sitting with Rakeysh Sir and I told him, 'If this film works out I will be really happy, but if it doesn't it is fine because I have learned a lot." In March 2014 she was finalised for the part.
In Mirzya, Kher plays both Soochi and Sahiban. Soochi is the contemporary, modern girl, more relatable to Kher because like her she is adventurous. "I was really fortunate that Rakeysh Sir is somebody who takes his time," she says. "He is a very good cook. He says, 'Mutton ko bhunne do'. We had four months between the contemporary world which was shot in Rajasthan and the fantastical folk tale segment which was shot in Ladakh. "Sahiban is very rustic and very sensual," she says. Kher also learned horse riding for the part. "I fell off the horse three to four times and I have these sweet scars which will stay with me for life," she smiles.
Like her co-star Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami is aware that she may not have as much time to prepare as she did for Mirzya and not receive the kind of pampering she did from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and his team. Says Kher, "I know 100 per cent it won't be the same. One because Gulzar has written the film which he doesn't do often, so it is way too special. I am smitten by Gulzar saab. I just blush at the mere mention of his name. Then there is Rakeysh Sir whom I'm very fond of as a human being. He has really influenced me a great deal in life." Signed on by Atul Kasbekar's agency Bling, Kher is eager for her next film. That may just be with Mani Ratnam. "It is too surreal," she says. "The film unfortunately got delayed to maybe next year. I did workshop with him. I was just looking at him. I told him 'You just give me five minutes. Let me see you for I can't believe that this is happening.' He just laughed."
Despite having acting running in the family - Shabana Azmi is also family - Kher grew away from the limelight. Her father, Adwait Kher, a former model, and mother Uttara Mhatre, a former Miss India, raised her and her sister, Saunskriti, in Nashik. Kher cherishes the middle-class upbringing in a small town. Says Kher, "They wanted to keep us away from the film industry. What they succeeded in doing was to make sure we were level-headed and aware that the film world is just one part of a much bigger world." Until she was 14, the only films Kher she had seen were Dumbo and Toy Story. Watching films really happened when she moved to Mumbai to study at St Xavier's College.
It isn't surprising then that Saiyami's first love is sports. The lower you go on her Twitter page the more you will see proof of her interest in sports. She grew up playing badminton and cricket at state level. She was even called for selection in the national women's cricket team. But she soon turned to modelling "because at one point I realised it doesn't make sense to take it up [sport] professionally if I can't make it to the main squad". Around this time she also took to theatre in college and began travelling for shoots which she loved. She had done her first film - Rey, a Telugu feature - when she was 19 but an opportunity from Bollywood didn't come her way until Oct 2013 when she was approached for Mirzya. "I have auditioned for hundreds of things, waiting in long queues in Aram Nagar. So when this film came along I was like one more audition," she says. "I did some eight to ten auditions. It was between me and another girl. Rakeysh Sir sent me to Delhi where I trained with Dilip Shankar and Adil Hussain."
Kher credits the three months she spent doing acting workshops with Shankar and Hussein in Delhi to prepare for as being a life-changing experience. "They have trained me for life. One of the days we were doing an intense exercise and I never in my wildest imagination thought I could reach emotionally there," she says. "For three days I was just blown away by what I had discovered about myself. I realised that this is something I want to do all my life. Forget the glamour and fame, what really drives me is that you learn about yourself when you are acting and get to play so many different people. I did theatre with Nadira ji [Zaheer Babbar] in Ekjute [group] and did workshops with Neeraj Kabi [actor of Ship of Theseus and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy]. But these three months in Delhi I feel brought my life in the right direction. After I came back from Delhi, I had to test again. I was sitting with Rakeysh Sir and I told him, 'If this film works out I will be really happy, but if it doesn't it is fine because I have learned a lot." In March 2014 she was finalised for the part.
In Mirzya, Kher plays both Soochi and Sahiban. Soochi is the contemporary, modern girl, more relatable to Kher because like her she is adventurous. "I was really fortunate that Rakeysh Sir is somebody who takes his time," she says. "He is a very good cook. He says, 'Mutton ko bhunne do'. We had four months between the contemporary world which was shot in Rajasthan and the fantastical folk tale segment which was shot in Ladakh. "Sahiban is very rustic and very sensual," she says. Kher also learned horse riding for the part. "I fell off the horse three to four times and I have these sweet scars which will stay with me for life," she smiles.
Like her co-star Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami is aware that she may not have as much time to prepare as she did for Mirzya and not receive the kind of pampering she did from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and his team. Says Kher, "I know 100 per cent it won't be the same. One because Gulzar has written the film which he doesn't do often, so it is way too special. I am smitten by Gulzar saab. I just blush at the mere mention of his name. Then there is Rakeysh Sir whom I'm very fond of as a human being. He has really influenced me a great deal in life." Signed on by Atul Kasbekar's agency Bling, Kher is eager for her next film. That may just be with Mani Ratnam. "It is too surreal," she says. "The film unfortunately got delayed to maybe next year. I did workshop with him. I was just looking at him. I told him 'You just give me five minutes. Let me see you for I can't believe that this is happening.' He just laughed."
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