Seven years ago, Mirzapur first began streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Through three seasons, it has become one of the most-watched and loved Indian web series. Now, the makers are bringing the bhaukaal to the big screen. Mirzapur The Movie is both a spinoff and a prequel, telling the origin story of the show’s main feud between the Tripathis and the Pandits. The film brings back several major characters, including Golu Gupta, played by Shweta Tripathi.
On the eve of the film’s release, the actor talks to Hindustan Times about the anticipation and excitement, and how the film takes a different approach to telling a familiar story.
‘Looking forward to watching it with people’
With just a day left before the film hits the screens, Shweta says she is excited. “Right now we are hoping, we are praying, we are wishing, that ki ek baar ye exam ho jaye aur Friday, Sunday aur phir Monday ho toh humein result pata chal jayega (we hope that this exam is over so that we can see the result after Monday).”
So far, Shweta has played Golu for the small screen as one of the show’s leads. This time, it is for a large-scale film. But the actor says she is not thinking about box-office prospects. “I have not watched the film. So I am really looking forward to watching it with people. I want to watch it with… oh, so my friends on the 4th, so that is the whole discussion in the group chats. So that’s a lot of fun.”
‘Not a redux of season 1’
Mirzapur The Movie runs parallel to the first season of the show, taking the characters back several years from where their arcs left off in season 3. Talking about making that adjustment, Shweta says, “I feel Mirzapur is a project that challenges you in different ways. If you feel, “Oh, this time you got it”, that’s never the case. After doing three seasons, you have lived the emotions of your character. You know there is a deep-seated rage in her. There is anger in her, there is so much in her, and now with the film, it’s back to season one.”
But Shweta clarifies that the film is not just season one retold in a different manner. It has a different, untold story. “It is definitely not a redux of season one,” says the actor. “So agar aap highway pe ja rahe ho, aur aap ek bypass le lete ho. Toh yeh woh hai (If you are going on a highway and you take a bypass route, it is that). We have kept everything the audience liked and introduced new elements. So, we have Pankaj (Tripathi) ji, Ali (Fazal), Divyenndu and the others returning, but we also have the man of the moment, Ravi (Kishan) ji. So it’s like a thaali, where the ingredients have been tweaked a bit. Ingredients mein masaale thode faraq kar diye hain, thali wahi hai (It’s the same buffet, but some spices have been added).”
About Mirzapur The Movie
Mirzapur: The Movie is directed by Gurmeet Singh, written by Puneet Krishna, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under the banner of Excel Entertainment. The film stars Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi and Divyenndu, while Jitendra Kumar takes over from Vikrant Massey, who played Bablu Pandit in the show. Mirzapur is set for a theatrical release in Hindi and Telugu on 4 September.