The one star kid who has chosen a different route to discover her fortunes is Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira. She has not been launched by her famous father opting instead to turn a director and that too for theatre. Her first play as director, Medea, debuted in December in Mumbai. Now, she is touring with the play. Posting pictures of herself, she mention how she seeks inspiration from singer Sona Mohapatra.
She wrote: “Channeling my inner @sonamohapatra First time taking my play anywhere. Channeling all your energy and charisma as a performer, Sona aunty No nerves.” Wearing a black sheer skirt and teaming it with a gold sleeveless blouse, Ira is certainly a different sort of a director. However, the use of the word ‘aunty’ caught the attention of many, including the singer herself. While she wished the young director well and asked her to be “fearless & free”, she also mentioned “and you’ve never ever called me aunty, so don’t bother now too. Be politically correct I say!” while addressing Ira as ‘kutty’ (Tamil/Malayalam for young girl). To this, Ira replied, “I always call you aunty. Glad you haven’t noticed.” As as parting shot, Sona suggested that she might as well call the singer ‘maasi’ if she had too and wrote: “Maasi be my preferred desi choice if you insist.”
Speaking to Hindustan Times about her choice of Euripedes’ play as her debut one, she had said: “The play Euripides’ Medea is not only a classic, but is also a script which is very appealing. It has a lot of layers and is complex. The thing I liked the most is that something so ancient is being directed by someone so young. Looking at it through the eyes of the new generation is nice, and Ira is looking at it in an interesting way, from whatever I have seen so far.”
Talking about her interest in direction, she had said, “I’ve always felt more comfortable and enthusiastic about working off-stage or behind the camera rather than [being] in front of it. I’ve never felt the inclination to act except if it were in an action film, so I get to learn all the cool stunts. Then again.. I can just learn how to do the stunts without a film to work on.”
