The trimmings in this love story like the music and choreography are the best bits but Mehra and Gulzar fail to give us a sense of the real conflicts in the film – the reason for Sahiban’s actions and the choice one has to sometimes make between lover and family.

Mirzya is random, abstract and niche – not particularly everyone’s cup of tea. Watch it for Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher – the most unassuming debutants of 2016.

…a gorgeous-looking drama let down by a threadbare script, amateurish acting, and unbearably laboured storytelling.

Early on in Mirzya, a character quotes a moonstruck Romeo’s monologue on Juliet: “She speaks yet says nothing.” It is an unwittingly apt description of this film. It speaks, yet says nothing.

Mirzya is a flop show and will meet with a disastrous fate at the box-office. It is like a lifeless as well as soulless film – dull, dry, drab and devoid of drama. It is all that a film with newcomers shouldn’t be!

Mirzya is not for everyone. It’s a slow, musical drama that will only be appreciated by fans of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films. Forgive Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s overindulgence, and go watch it for the newcomers, who make a fantastic first impression. 

You can actually see the film in its soundtrack alone. It remains the mainstay and takeaway from the film. It’s a pity then that despite so much happening, so much aspired for in the film, in the end you don’t feel as though you have come back with something substantial.

Mirzya is doomed by its inability to free itself from the weight of the original legend. A tragic romance that doubles up a cautionary tale about the consequences of rebellion gets the music video treatment. One song rolls out after another to suggest the heat of the heart, but the movie remains cold to its own possibilities.