A Potent Question

What made you direct Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, a film that has erectile dysfunction at its core?

There are two reasons behind it. One — I realised that no one was making films on arranged marriages any more — everyone wants to fall in love abroad — even though a major chunk of the film-going audience has had arranged marriages. I set the film within an arranged marriage premise, and the conflict was provided by the guy not being able to get it up, as opposed to caste/honour/class causing a strife. Second reason, I used to be a stay-at home husband for some time, while my wife Meenakshi used to work to support us. The women of the locality would gossip about how I was less of a man because I was unable to provide for my wife. I felt financially impotent, as I was not earning. It’s another thing my wife didn’t care about all this. I turned financial impotence into sexual impotence. In my wife I found Sugandha (played by Bhumi Pednekar in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan).

Sex and its related concerns are still a taboo in our films and the society at large. Were you not apprehensive about getting people to produce and back your film?

Nowadays, it’s not enough to make a good film to be able to drag the audience to the theatres. They all have an option to watch Game Of Thrones at home, or even the latest films through piracy. To deal with this, either you go through the starry route – get a Salman or an Aamir — or you make a Baahubali with an insane amount of money. The third remaining option is to get a basic core idea, with a something extra, which hopefully no one has done before. For me, Kalyana Samayal Saadham was that one line. The protagonists of the film, while being based in Delhi, are still rooted in the conservative upbringing particular to small towns. Yes. I wanted the premise of the film to be conservative. Imagine, if the film was based in an upper-middle-class family in Mumbai or Bangalore. If the groom complained of erectile dysfunction, the family and friends would have immediately suggested that ‘pop a Viagra, and be done with it’. My film would have been over in an hour.

Was it intentional to cast Ayushmann Khurrana as the lead, given his previous work, Vicky Donor?

I wanted a simple sweet guy, who the audience doesn’t find creepy, even when he is talking about a squirm-worthy topic. For me Ayush does that, with all earnestness. My reference point for Ayush was Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Vicky Donor was an afterthought. I remember telling him after I narrated the script to him, ‘Who is better than Vicky Donor to play Mudit’. The irony.

You are one-film-old each in Bollywood and Tamil film industry. How are the two industries different?

Even though I am from Chennai, I was working outside the system there. My film was produced independently. In Bollywood, I was pretty much in the system. The sheer scale and magnitude of Bollywood amazes me. There are so many projects in development. Also the way the films are promoted and marketed —it’s like a well-oiled machine. Chennai, on the other hand, is a good training ground for filmmakers. Here, good storytelling will work even with low budgets.