# Mirza Sahiban

Mirza Sahiban (Punjabi:) is a traditional Punjabi tragedy originally written by the 17th-century poet Pilu. Set in a village in Jhang, the tragedy follows the romance between two youths, belonging to chieftain families of their respective clans, their elopement and eventual demise.
It is regarded as one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. The other three are Heer Ranjha, Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi Punnun.

## Synopsis

The story was written by Pilu, a poet who lived during 16th century in Punjab. Mirza and Sahiban were lovers who lived in Khewa, a town in the Jhang District which was Sahiban's ancestral village. Mirza was the son of Banjal, a Kharal Jatt chief of Danabad while Sahiban was the daughter of Khiva Khan, a Sial Jatt chief.
Both Mirza and Sahiban ran away to marry against Sahiban's parents' wishes. While eloping Mirza stopped under a jand tree, where he rested for a while and fell asleep. Sahiban did not want to begin her new life through her brothers' bloodshed. She decided to break all the arrows of Mirza thinking she will beg her brothers for their acceptance so that nobody would get hurt. When Sahiban's brothers reached near them, Mirza woke up but discovered that his arrows were broken, and was killed by Sahiban's brothers. Sahiban could not bear this loss and chose to end her own life by stabbing herself with an arrow.

## Adaptations

There have been various film interpretations of the folk tale:
* Mirza Sahiban, a 1929 Indian silent film by Bhagwati Prasad Mishra.
* Mirza Sahiban, a 1933 Indian Hindi-language film by Nagendra Majumdar starring Khurshid Begum and Kamlabai Gokhale.
* Mirza Sahiban, a 1939 Indian Punjabi-language film by D. N. Madhok starring Zubeida.
* Mirza Sahiban, a 1947 Indian Hindi-language romantic-drama film by K. Amarnath starring Noor Jehan and Trilok Kapoor
* Mirza Sahiban (1956) is a Pakistani Punjabi film starring Musarrat Nazir and Sudhir
* Mirza Sahiban (1957 film), a 1957 Indian Hindi-language romance film by Ravi Kapoor starring Shyama and Shammi Kapoor.
* Mirza Jat (1967) is a Pakistani Punjabi film starring Firdous and Ejaz Durrani
* Mirza Jat (1982) is a Pakistani Punjabi film starring Shahid Hameed.
* Mirza Jatt, a 1992 Indian Punjabi-language romance film by Ravinder Ravi starring Gugu Gill and Manjeet Kullar.
* Hero Hitler in Love, a 2011 Indian Punjabi-language film by Babbu Maan, starring Maan and Mouni Roy. It creates a modern Mirza and Sahiban story with a twist.
* Mirza – The Untold Story, a 2012 Indian Punjabi-language film directed by Baljit Singh Deo starring Gippy Grewal and Mandy Takhar. It is a modern rendition of Mirza and Sahiban story, with the title song sung by Arif Lohar, son of (late) Alam Lohar.
* Mirzya, a 2016 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, is based on Mirza and Sahiban and closely follows the original story. Harshvardhan Kapoor plays Mirza and Saiyami Kher plays Sahiba.
* Mirza Juuliet, a 2017 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Rajesh Ram Singh, starring Darshan Kumar and Piaa Bajpai in the lead roles. It is a modern retelling of the original story, set in Uttar Pradesh, showing the nexus between politicians and criminals.
* Phillauri, a 2017 Indian film starring Diljit Dosanjh and Anushka Sharma in lead roles, the song Sahibaa portrays their love in comparison with Mirza Sahiban .
* Diljit Dosanjh, a 2017 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Rajesh Ram Singh, starring Darshan Kumar and Piaa Bajpai in the lead roles. It is a modern retelling of the original story, set in Uttar Pradesh, showing the nexus between politicians and criminals.
* In 2022 Indian film Jersey featured song 'Maiyya mainu' by Sachet–Parampara compared Shahid Kapoor and Mrunal Thakur with mirza-sahiban.