three months to accommodate her first choice. Koechlin admitted that the role was the most challenging of her film career and she took six months to prepare for it. She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor Adil Hussain, which was aimed at making her "body language seem natural", while also focusing on the speech pattern of patients with cerebral palsy. Koechlin spent considerable time with Chib and her physiotherapist and speech therapist. She also attended a month-long workshop in Delhi, where she worked on body part movements. Although the film addresses aspects of the challenges of physical disability, Koechlin dubbed it "a romcom within some hurdles". Bose too described the film as a coming-of-age story about a "woman's journey of finding love". Maniyar, who also served as the casting director for the film, contacted Gupta for the role of Khanum while she was working on the travel show Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan. Immediately drawn to the character, Gupta agreed to audition and was cast for the role after a lengthy selection process that lasted about a month. She said in a later interview that she had felt fortunate to have bagged the character of Khanum. To prepare for the role, Gupta stayed blindfolded while doing daily activities such as cooking and bathing and spent time with a special voice and accent trainer. She also attended classes at the National Association for the Blind, where she learned basic braille. Revathi, who had previously played a mother to a young child with cerebral palsy in Anjali (1990), agreed to play Laila's mother after reading the script. William Moseley was cast as Jared, a British student in Laila's class. Filming and post-production Principal photography for Margarita with a Straw began in 2013 and took place at New Delhi and New York with two separate schedules. Anne Misawa worked as the director of photography. While the first half of the story is set in the Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University, it was mainly filmed at Miranda House. Students and staff members from institutions such as Ramjas College and Lady Shri Ram were involved actively in the project. Tenzin Dalha, a final year political science student from the former, played one of Koechlin's love interests in the film; Shuchi Dwivedi from the latter played Koechlin's best friend. Other students from the university were cast as members of a local band,