With Ms. Marvel episode four now streaming and episode five nearly upon us, we were able to sit down with 2x Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to talk about all of the major revelations and what will be coming Kamala Khan's (Iman Vellani) way on Wednesday after she is transported to 1947 during the Partition of India.
She tells me more about accurately portraying Karachi, and previews some of what's to come in episode five. We also learn more about the process behind casting Bollywood star Farhan Akhtar (Toofaan; Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) as Waleed and what's it been like working with rising star Iman Vellani.
Check out the full video interview below!
ROHAN: After what we've seen in episodes 1-3, episode four really turns the series on its head and we get to see Kamala in a brand new environment, that's not only unfamiliar to her, but also to the audience at large. What was it like being able to reinvent the wheel with your two episodes?
SHARMEEN: I loved the fact that I had free reign in creating this brand new word for Kamala Khan to go on an adventure on and that I could paint the palette the way I wanted to, and then, I wanted to bring scope, and I wanted to put her out on the streets, and I wanted to film on vacation. I did a lot of that with my episodes and so, I think there was a method to Marvel's madness in bringing me on for episodes four and five.
ROHAN: We meet Farhan Akhtar in this episode, who brings such incredible warmth to his role as Waleed - can you tell me more about casting him in this role?
SHARMEEN: Farhan, from Day One, we were like this role is Farhan Akhtar’s. I mean, he would embody this wise character, and we needed a mentor for Kamala, we needed someone who would provide context, and reassure her that the journey that she's on is an important one, and that the Order of the Red Daggers would protect her through that process. I think that he - the first time he walked onto set and sort of wore that costume, that Arjun Bhasin designed for him, he stepped into the role of Waleed, into this wise man. In the way he explained everything to her and the warmth he brought, to sort of clearing the haze for her. So, I think that Farhan, this was the right sort of role for Farhan to play in that moment, and you see that chemistry between the two of them is like a mentor-mentee relationship on screen.
ROHAN: You're also working with Iman Vellani, what's it been like just seeing her become Kamala Khan and starting her path to becoming a star?
SHARMEEN: I think, Iman Vellani is Kamala Khan. She's a first generation Pakistani Canadian, and she's an MCU nerd, and so much of what she's playing is actually her real life. We would often forget that she's actually playing this character, because, she's bringing so much of herself to Kamala Khan. I don't think that Marvel could have cast someone better to have an MCU nerd play an MCU nerd in the MCU is something pretty special.
ROHAN: I'll be honest, I was born and raised in the U.S., as an Indian-American, so I'm not even overly familiar with what happened during Partition, outside of that it happened.
Can you tell me more about realizing this monumental event in the MCU and just bringing this incredible level of authenticity and humanity to what transpired in 1947? What can we expect from episode five?
SHARMEEN: When Kamala lands into Partition, it was really important for me to have Kamala bear witness to history and to, as she walks on that platform to hear snatches of conversations that people were having as they were leaving their home. A father hugging his son, because he's too old to travel, he's sending the son, two best friends hugging each other, who may never see each other again, a daughter worried that there wouldn't be enough space on a train.
These are all stories rooted in real oral histories that we have drawn from, because anybody who had to leave their home in 1947, on either side of the border, felt the anguish and in the 75th year of partition, which is what this year is, it was so important to bring that to life to make people understand that there's so much intergenerational trauma about 1947 in each one of the families that I wanted Kamala Khan to be Kamala Khan in that moment and not be a superhero.
ROHAN: I read that you were raised in Karachi, what did you want to do to accurately portray the city in the series?
SHARMEEN: Well, I just wanted my favorite restaurants and landmarks and places that I love, and I recreated those for Kamala to experience. I was able to do that. I wanted to bring the color and the vibrancy of my Karachi onto the screen that you almost never see in Hollywood. I wanted to bring the colors, the motifs, the murals, the hand painted trucks and vehicles, sort of the bright color, textiles and the funky sort of things that you see being sold on the side of the street, and wanted to bring that all out, and I wanted to sort of film that, so that I could introduce the world to my Karachi. So, when you land in Karachi, the doors open from the airport and she walks out, there's a dhol, there's a drum, people are screaming and hugging and sort of throwing rose petals. That is how alive that part of the world is, and it's an instant sort of you just realized you're not in Jersey anymore.
Plus, check out our interviews with Farhan Akhtar ("Waleed") and Aramis Knight ("Kareem/Red Dagger") below:
Marvel Studios’ “Ms. Marvel” is a new, original series that introduces Kamala Khan, a Muslim American teenager growing up in Jersey City. An avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, Kamala is a Super Hero megafan with an oversized imagination—particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel. Yet Kamala feels like she doesn’t fit in at school and sometimes even at home—that is, until she gets superpowers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life gets better with superpowers, right?