She is perky, vivacious and bubbly and is everything a teenager her age is. All of 18, Amyra Dastur who is on a roller coaster ride to promote her debut film Issaq fell in love with Varanasi. Director Manish Tiwary, who has connections with the Maharaja of Benares, has managed to capture the right nuances of the city, that no one else has ever captured before.
Talking about her time spent in Varanasi, Amyra, a shy, introvert, Parsi girl says, “I fell in love with Varanasi. We spent quite a lot of time there doing different things. I did all the touristy stuff like going to the ghats, seeing the pandits perform the aartis and taking a dip. Besides that we also went to the local lanes. I loved the malai lassi, the jalebis, mithais and the local khana like typical north-Indian puri aloo. I would love to go back for the malai lassi anytime again!”
Amyra, who plays the role of a 16-year-old girl called Bachhi in the film, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, adds, “Thanks to Manish, we even got to see one of the city’s oldest Ramleelas at Ramnagar and Nati Imli that has been running for three centuries. These Ramleelas are quite a treat for any tourist as they have been running in Varanasi for the past 300 years. Being a city girl, born and brought up in Mumbai, it was quite a welcome change for me. We shot in Varanasi, but all over, so we got to see the heart of the city, absorb the local flavour, observe people’s lives. We shot a year before Ranjhanaa was shot in Varanasi, so it is my first feel of the city.” She concludes saying, “I plan to take off on a nice holiday someplace after the film’s promos and release.”
Amyra is an actress As told to Namita Gupta