The Queen of My Dreams by Fawzia Mirza is a love letter to Bollywood and homosexuality.

For Fawzia Mirza, doing The queen of my dreams his film debut was cathartic.

“It saved my life,” the writer-director said.

The film, which began life as an art installation and then a 2012 short film, is Mirza's love letter to Bollywood romance and homosexuality.

It tells the story of a mother, Mariam, played by Nimra Bucha, and her daughter, Azra, who come of age while exploring the two characters' complicated relationships with their home country and with each other. Canadian actor Amrit Kaur plays both Azra and young Mariam in flashbacks to 1960s Pakistan.

Mirza, who grew up watching Bollywood films as a young queer Muslim girl in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, says she didn't see herself in the film genre she loved.

“There was no one to turn to,” Mirza told CBC's Eli Glasner. “I didn’t see anyone in movies and on TV who had all of these elements that I had in me.”

She initially didn't see herself directing the film and wanted another “queer, Muslim, brown person to direct it,” but she had trouble finding the right person, she said. So, with the encouragement of her colleagues, she took on this role herself.

“It was this group of people, these directors, this room, this moment that helped me see myself,” Mirza said.

Now that the film is in theaters across Canada, she says creating it was “a dream come true.”

“It’s the culmination of what I was meant to do,” said Mirza, who worked as a lawyer before venturing into films.

“Master class on the work of life”

Interpreting the largely autobiographical script challenged Kaur in new ways.

Kaur had just five weeks to go until filming the Mindy Kaling-created series The sex lives of female students and when the production of Mirza's film began to include two different perspectives: Azra and the character's mother, Mariam.

At first, it was Azra's vulnerability that scared Kaur. But it was Mariam's “sophistication” that the Markham, Ontario-based actor struggled with.

“There was so much work in my life that I had to catch up by really looking at my relationship with my mother, how I treated her, how I mistreated her, how I hated and loved her” , Kaur said. in an interview with Day 6 guest host Stephanie Skenderis.

“I felt like the script asked me to do a master class on my life’s work in five weeks.”

Kaur says she had to look within as she sought to embody the characters.

“I didn't want to be an imperfect person, that's what the script asked me to reveal. And imperfect in the way I treat my mother; imperfect in my contempt for my homeland; imperfect in my coming out journey.” , she said. said.

Meanwhile, playing a young Pakistani woman while exploring the perspective of that woman's mother allowed her to examine the ways in which people reflect their own parents.

“Everyone, even if we don't want to be like our parents, don't want to be like our mothers, we are,” Kaur said.

WATCH | Filmmaker Fawzia Mirza on how growing up as a queer Muslim pushed her to forge her own path

After launching her career on Kaling's hit series, which explored sexuality and romance, Kaur hasn't shied away from portraying authentic depictions of South Asians on screen.

The queen of my dreams goes further by centering Mirza's own experiences as a queer Muslim woman.

“I remember going out and, after every take, thinking, 'Have I told your story, Fawzia? Do we see you?' That was really important to me,” Kaur said.

Filming in Pakistan

Pakistan plays an important role in the film. Filmed on location, Mirza takes viewers back to Karachi in the 1960s.

“When I was thinking about this feature, 1960s Pakistan was something I had never seen on screen before, and I really wanted to share [it],” she says.

“I also think Pakistan in the 60s was so sexy.”

Filming some scenes proved difficult in today's Pakistan, she said. One scene, which featured Mariam in a bikini on the beach, required the crew to erect barriers.

Kaur called filming in the Muslim country “revolutionary.”

“I always wanted to make a film in my mother’s country,” Mirza said. “I think part of me wants this to be my land, and it’s because of our connectivity.”

“Being there on that floor was deeply cathartic, healing and beautiful.”

Since the film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, it has screened at Cannes and SXSW.

Mirza says some of his family members, including his mother, are yet to see the film. But it has already made waves with South Asian audiences.

“This guy came up to me and said, 'You know, I'm not queer, but I'm really struggling with my parents right now and that really helped me,'” Mirza recalls.

“Going back to the idea that art saves our lives, I think it’s possible.”