An Indo-Pak venture

The movie has Gulshan Grover, Arya Babbar and Kanwaljeet Singh from India, while the lead actress, Mehreen Raheal, is from Pakistan.  According to producer Vikram Khakhar, the idea of the movie originated from a brainstorming session with Pakistani singer-composer Jawad Ahmad. “I have produced videos for Pakistani artists like Ali Azmat, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Zafar and Ahmad. Since hundreds of Punjabi speaking people live in Pakistan and abroad, we thought a film on the community would be interesting,” informs Vikram, who has joined hands with Dr Amanullah Khan, a 70-year-old renowned Punjabi poet who graduated from Lahore, but now lives in Dallas.

Director Pankaj Batra explains that the movie explores ways of addressing the identity conflicts of immigrant Asians in Western societies so that the succeeding generations can benefit from the best facets of both the cultures. The most expensive Punjabi movie ever made, Virsa has been entirely shot in Sydney, apart from a day’s shooting in India. “We gave it a Pakistani feel through the characters and their dialogues,” explains Batra.

Denying rumours that the location was determined by an effort to surmount visa problems, Vikram says that Sydney was chosen because the Australian government was very supportive. “It’s a relationship building exercise. We didn’t feel any animosity,” he asserts.