Family dramas like Stepmom affect me deeply: Siddharth

As a 13-year old school kid growing up in the posh Altamount Road neighbourhood of South Mumbai in the nineties,director Siddharth Malhotra says he was very moved when he saw the Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon-starrer,Stepmom for the first time. “I couldn’t help crying. I am an emotional person and movies about family drama affect me deeply,” says Malhotra. At 32,he still hasn’t recovered from his fascination with tearjerkers. So he has gone ahead and adapted the 1998 Hollywood flick’s screenplay to an Indian setting for his directorial debut,under the banner of Dharma Productions. The movie,We are Family,which stars Arjun Rampal,Kareena Kapoor and Kajol,releases on September 3rd.

Malhotra’s association with the glamour industry runs in the family. After having directed and created several TV dramas for his father’s production company,Cinevista,which conceptualised serials like Sanskriti,Malhotra moved on to films by assisting Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Kareeb and became the assistant director in Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah. But his moment of reckoning came once he started assisting Karan Johar in Kal Ho Na Ho. “ I love his style of cinema,the grandeur,the warmth of the characters. I can easily relate to them since I revel in the comforts of a family. Karan Johar is the reason I became a director and I will continue to work for him till he wants,” gushes Malhotra,adding how Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is his favourite K Jo movie.

The idea of an Indian remake of the Stepmom came to him about two years back when he saw the movie for the ‘nth time’ on DVD. “I cry to this day when I watch the movie. It always had the potential to be adapted to an Indian setting,” he says. Fortunately for Malhotra,Johar was convinced too when he approached him with the first rough draft. “He gave me a free hand at making the film,” he says. Incidentally,Johar has brought the rights for the remake of the Hollywood film.

Malhotra is already working on his next film,again under Johar’s banner,but for the moment,he is busy with the post-production of We are Family.