Courtesy: IndiaFM
Monday, July 25, 2005

...this is how Minissha Lamba describes Yahaan. The actor with the fragile-as-a-flower looks will debut in this Shooji Sircar film. Listen up as the demure delight tells us why she regards Yahaan as an experience of a lifetime...

WHAT'S THE STORY, GIRL?
It's a love story with the backdrop of a tension-torn Kashmir. My character, Ada meets this idealistic, dashing army cop and they fall in love. Now this is something unheard of in the Kashmir valley and it puts the film in motion. How the love between the two characters hints at a new dawn for the strife-filled state is what Yahaan is all about.

CANDID KASHMIR
We have shown you a Kashmir that you will have never experienced before! In Yahaan, the camera travels beyond the much publicized Dal Lake and Nishad Gardens. We shot in downtown places like Habakadal Bridge and Lal Chowk. There were many times when we would hide the camera in the dickey of a car and capture candid footage. The strategy we used was keep the setup ready, arrive on the scene, do the shot in a single take and melt away before people got wind of what was going on.

THE POSTER BOY
Take it from me, after Yahaan Jimmy Shergill is going to be Bollywood's heartthrob, the new poster boy! Jimmy has pitched in his fine performance. I for once didn't feel that I am opposite a star. He is such a simple, non-messy actor that I instantly struck a comfort zone with him. And that helped us get the scenes right in the first go itself, the chemistry clicked, the entire shoot was a breeze from day 1. Jimmy has been a revelation!

GUREILLA SHOOTING
This was the most exciting as well as the most challenging part of the shoot. The paper may say 2 scenes for the day, but Shooji never followed any particular design of shooting. It was all very impromptu. You could be doing an intense scene one moment and then it suddenly hits him that we can take a moment from that scene and we used to simply go for it. So if you started the day with 3 scenes in mind, there is every chance that he would have canned 6-7 by dusk. It was thrilling. It tested you as an actor!

NOT JUST SONGS BUT SCREENPLAY
The music isn't present because it had to be there but because the story called for it. So the songs are more of a screenplay element that takes the story forward. There is this very soulful ballad called, 'Naam Ada Likhna', I am very partial to that one. I think Gulzarsaab is god when it comes to lyrics, the lines are divine. The background score by Sadruddin matches the mood too.

MERA ISHQ
Yahaan, Bollywood ke saath mera pehla pyar hain, mera ishq hain. I am expecting a lot from the film. I am very happy that I could debut with a film that has so much to offer me as an actor. The film has now become a benchmark to which I will compare every other film of mine. I just hope that people come and watch the film because I take the personal guarantee that you will not be disappointed with what you see.

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