Full Throttle

A comedy film set against the backdrop of a “loud Punjabi wedding” in Chandigarh,Mere Dad Ki Maruti is a story of a boy who sneaks out with his dad’s fancy new car to impress the college beauty and how all hell breaks loose when the car goes missing. As director,Chibber finds life amusing and likes to draw stories from its eccentricities. That’s why,comedy,she says was her first choice for a film. “I love to work with newcomers,since they are not self-conscious,” she says. For Mere Dad Ki Maruti,she’s roped in Saquib Saleem,who made his debut in last year’s sleeper hit from Y-Films’ Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge. Proclaimed the ‘Find of the Year’ by critics,he will be romancing Ria,who is being launched by Y-Films. The film’s music is by Sachin Gupta who has previously scored the chartbusting music of Prince and a host of pop albums.

Shooting in Chandigarh with help from the locally-based Darshan Aulakh Productions,Chibber didn’t seem flustered with the hot and humid weather. “I am used to this heat because I am a Chandigarh girl,” she says,reminiscing about how every summer was spent with her aunts and uncles after her family moved to Hyderabad. “Chandigarh was always on my radar for my first film,” she adds. According to her,the city has a timeless endearing quality,a “thahraav”.

While she has written the screenplay with Neeraj Udwani,the dialogues of the film are by Ishita Moitra. In the industry for close to seven years now,Chibber has assisted and learnt from working with the likes of Shimit Amin on Ab Tak Chhappan and Chak De India,Saket Chaudhary on Pyaar Ke Side Effects,and Imtiaz Ali on Rockstar before getting her big break. “There are millions of assistant directors,and only a handful get a chance,” says Chibber,who is on board for a couple of projects now.

“Aditya Chopra is a dream producer,” she gushes. While life has been good,she agrees one has to sacrifice a lot to be in this industry. “I have faced no discrimination. It’s a great phase for women directors and writers. When I enrolled for media studies at Cambridge University,I was fascinated with this medium,with cinema and I saw it through rose-tinted glasses,not knowing how much hard work it is,” she adds.

Chibber chose writing and directing,and says one has to be a “lone ranger” and “mad enough” to pick this profession. “My parents were shocked and people hardly sympathise with this lifestyle. There is no security and you are just riding the wave,but it is a structured and straight line of work,” she sums up.