Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey has mostly made testosterone-filled films and hard-hitting social dramas. At the trailer launch event of his upcoming film Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, starring Ajay Devgn and Tabu, Neeraj said that it took him 16 years to make a love story because he didn’t get any producer to back a movie in that genre.
The filmmaker said, “It took me 16 years to make a love story because first I wanted to make a love story but unfortunately nobody wanted to produce that. So I had to wait for 16 years to come up with this one.” Neeraj also said that making a love story today is a risk as there are people always telling him not to make one. He shared, “There is always that doubting Thomases. You realise that and so you do what you want to do. Simply ignore that sort of advice and go on with your conviction. Since everybody is doing action so it may be more imperative that I do a love story then.”
Also read | Tabu-Ajay Devgn on lack of mature love stories in Bollywood, playing romantic leads in Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha: ‘Romance does not only belong to the young’
Ajay Devgn too said that making a love story today is risky but he prefers to go against the tide. He said, “It is important to stay different. When Neeraj narrated the story, I will be very honest, I told Neeraj, ‘I love the story and it touches you so much but I don’t know commercially what is going to happen.’ And he said, ‘Don’t worry. Leave it on me.’”
Adding to what Ajay said, Neeraj added, “He also said, ‘Why not make a spy film?’ And I told him that will come later.”
Tabu too opened up on doing a love story at this phase in her career and said that the portrayal of love in Hindi cinema is evolving because the audiences are more accepting of change. She said, “I should give credit to Neeraj for envisioning this love story. When our society changes, our cinema and entertainment changes. It’s nice. Society changes everything around us. ”
Ajay Devgn and Tabu’s Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, directed by Neeraj Pandey, is slated to release in theatres on July 5.
