Mustache is a movie that may seem small-scale at first glance, but its big heart won it the Audience Award in the Narrative Feature competition at the SXSW Film & TV Festival. Written and directed by Imran J. Khan in his feature film debut, Mustache follows Pakistani American teen Ilyas (Atharva Verma) as he leaves behind the comforts of his Islam-centered private school for an unfamiliar public school. What he can't leave behind, however, is the mustache that has grown faster than he's comfortable with at his young age.

Equal parts absurd comedy and heartwarming family drama, Mustache explores who Ilyas wants to be when set against the expectations of his parents (played by Meesha Shafi and Schitt's Creek star Rizwan Manji) and the pressures of fitting in for the outside world. Though it is set in the '90s, Mustache is a timeless tale that feels just as relevant to teens today. The ensemble cast includes Alicia Silverstone, Hasan Minhaj, Ayana Manji, and more.

Related: Mustache Review: Identity Is At Center Of Charming, Heartwarming Coming Of Age [SXSW]

Screen Rant spoke to filmmaker Imran J. Khan and stars Atharva Verma, Rizwan Manji, Ayana Manji, and Alicia Silverstone about Mustache while at SXSW. The director shared how he approached such a personal story, while the cast reflected on the ways that Ilyas' love of performance was reflected in their own lives.

Cast & Director on Mustache at SXSW

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Screen Rant: What inspired this project, other than a mustache?

Imran J. Khan: To put it very succinctly, my life. I grew up in the ‘90s. I did do the awkward transition from a private Islamic school to a public school, and I had a lot of experiences discovering art; discovering performance and theater. Those were so transformative for me at that time, and I just felt like it was a powerful story to tell. I thought it would be really relatable for so many people; so many young people and adults who are wanting to open up and find that way to express themselves and to discover a different side of themselves.

Speaking of discovering theater, I love that we meet Ms. Martin while she's telling the students to not bottle their emotions and instead release them through performance. What is the best advice you've ever heard an acting coach give, Alicia?

Alicia Silverstone: I think it was Harold Guskin, who worked with Glenn Close and James Gandolfini and Kevin Klein. I was going to do a play on Broadway, and he said, "Just don't worry at all. Just trust your instincts." Because that's where I had started.

Not that I didn't study acting, but he was just reminding me to get out of my head. You can go on this mental trip and make up all these backstories and all this stuff but, at the end of the day, if you're not alive and present and breathing and catching the ball when it gets thrown to you? You're not there. So, that really helped me to remind myself to not overthink. I already had everything I needed inside, and I could just play.

You get to do some playing at the end of the film, Atharva. Your performance art piece was iconic. How did you achieve it, and how many takes was it?

Atharva Verma: It was actually not as many takes as I expected. In the beginning, I was like, "Okay, this is an audience. They're really there. I have to do this." But honestly, I just focused on what was happening around me. “It's a movie. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.” I started feeling really comfortable doing it right after the first take, because they didn't laugh or anything. Or they did, but it was part of the movie, so I didn't feel uncomfortable doing it.

Imran J. Khan: He was so committed. I think that's what was awesome about that scene.

You guys watching him in real-time. Was it hard to not ruin the take?

Rizwan Manji: We watched. And I did laugh, by the way, because they didn't show it to us before. Luckily they didn’t, because we had a real reaction to it. You guys had recorded some, and then you brought us in our take. It was really funny, and my son was adorable. They did a really good job. We were like, “When did you guys rehearse this?” Because he's in every scene of the movie.

Imran J. Khan: It was that weekend. It was that weekend before... It was a Saturday or Sunday, and we just did all these rehearsals for that performance. And it was just fun. And he brought his own improv to it, and we were... It was a collaboration. We just worked together. It was fun.

Ayana, is Rizwan a better on-screen father or offscreen?

Ayana Manji: To see the relationship between Atharva and my dad, it was kind of like seeing me, but it's someone else. Obviously, it’s not my life, though! [Laughs]

Imran J. Khan: I don't think Hameed would let you be in this movie. So, Rizwan&rsquo's a great father, is what you're trying to say.

Rizwan Manji: You just have to answer that question with, "My dad is amazing."

The real question I have for you is this: my favorite moment is when the scene transforms from what Ilyas is imagining Yasmeen looks like when she's conversing with him to what she actually looks like in that moment. What is Yasmeen really like outside of his perspective?

Ayana Manji: I think that she's more outspoken than he thinks. I think during the fake computer scenes, she's very shy. Then when he finally meets with her, it's like, "Go away. I don't like you." It's like, "Okay, come on. You got to get to the point now." And then at the end, she's like, "You're stupid. Just leave."

Onto the iconic and titular mustache, how do we literally get it on you, Atharva?

Atharva Verma: Before we started filming, there was this makeup test thing going on, and we were just figuring out how much hair we wanted. We started putting mascara on it, and then we started to see if it could get darker and darker to look more real. And then it did. We were like, “What if we want to go even more?” And then we started putting on fake wig hairs onto it with a tweezer, and we'd pick it and put it on. It was really bushy, and then it started to become scratchy, so we stayed with the mascara.

When we were done with that session, I looked into the mirror and saw a completely different person. But I remember by the end of filming, I had become so used to it, that I'd look in the mirror and be like, "Oh, hey." Then when I wiped it all off, after I was home for a week, I was like, “Where am I? Where's my mustache? Where's Ilyas?”

Alicia, Clueless is a huge part of my personality. I loved it so much, and its ‘90s. What was it like to be back in the nineties for Mustache?

Alicia Silverstone: Well, I didn't feel it there. For one, I was jetlagged out of my mind. I had just been in Greece, and I showed up on set. I met Iman on Zoom in Greece, and then I showed up and was there for a day, and that was it. My experience was in this classroom with all the kids, so I was in my own little bubble of those scenes. [Laughs] Other things happened in the ‘90s, believe it or not! Though, of course, the most important thing that happened in the ‘90s was Clueless.

But the point is that the story is so beautiful. When I read it made me cry, and I told Iman that. It's just a really sweet story of someone finding themselves. The scene with Ilyas and his father is so heartbreaking; how vulnerable the dad has to be, what he's going through, and how hard it is to be a parent and let go of your baby. It's horrible. It's the worst thing that ever happens in the world, that your babies grow up. I haven’t seen it yet, but I just thought it was a really heartfelt, beautiful story.

My clothes were really crazy, though. Bad ‘90s.

At the start of the film, Ilyas doesn’t even think that his father likes him. How do you think Hameed would react to that, and how does he grow over the course of the film away from his own fears?

Rizwan Manji: I'll tell you, just from my personal life with my dad and me. I loved my dad, but he was a very athletic guy, and I'm a very artsy person. In doing this movie, I said, "The script just made me appreciate my dad a little bit more." I had to see it through Hameed's, even though I'm really Ilyas.

Doing that made me appreciate my dad even more. I felt like I was able to bring that to the character, because I didn't want Hameed to come across as a villain in the movie. I wanted you to be like, “I see that Hameed really just wants the best for him, and maybe he's not doing it the right way, but he definitely wants that." I just wanted that to come across, and hopefully, we succeeded In it.

I don't know if you know this, Ayana, but Ilyas’ AIM username was obviously related to Dragon Ball Z. Was yours Sailor Moon? “Kawaii Saturn.”

Ayana Manji: Huh?

Imran J. Khan: She didn't pick up on that, but yeah!

Rizwan Manji: They didn't know what AOL instant messaging was. It made me feel really old.

Imran, this was your feature film directorial debut. You're telling your life, you're writing, your directing – you're doing everything. What was the biggest hurdle for you to overcome?

Imran J. Khan: Honestly, it's really similar to what Alicia said about acting. It's getting out of your head. I think you can be on set, thinking about a million things, and not really responding to what's happening in the moment.

I was meditating. I was doing whatever I could to stay present, asking, “Is this cool? Is this funny? Is this emotional to me?” Focusing on just that, and then forgetting about all of the technical stuff was my challenge. I think this movie succeeds because I was able to do that, because I'm naturally a person that's in my head all the time.

Atharva, I really love the dynamic between Ilyas and Aasim, and how that grows over the course of the film. How did you feel about following that thread?

Atharva Verma: It was really interesting to see that. Ilyas talks about him a lot; about his personality, and how he's so different, and how Ilyas wants to be more like him. But on set, it was really fun to work with him. We bonded instantly, even though our scenes were pretty short, and we did them really quickly.

Last but not least, Rizwan, I loved Schitt's Creek. How can I get you guys to do more?

Rizwan Manji: I'm going to start a rumor… Eugene Levy did an interview and I ended up getting tagged, so I got all these comments. He said, "You can never say never." So, while I'm here, I'm just going to start a rumor that we're doing more. If it's a rumor, it'll become true, and then we'll do it!

The bottom line is I have no idea. I'm probably the last person to know. But when you know, please let me know.

About Mustache

meesha shafi in mustache

It’s the mid-90’s in Northern California and 13-year-old Pakistani-American ILYAS is facing a major crisis — his parents yanked him out of his comfortable Islamic private school and now he has to face life at public school. Ilyas’ fears about joining public school are made worse by insecurities due to his inescapable, prepubescent MUSTACHE. Ilyas hatches a hilarious plan to return to his old school — but he must also learn to accept himself.

Mustache premiered at SXSW on March 12.