Savvy India — December 2017

of history and different cities. I was thrilled to be

away from home. At college I lived with very confi dent

girls, something I’ve always admired, and they helped

me fi nd my own confi dence.

BITTEN BY THE FILM BUG

I loved watching fi lms ever since I was a kid. Every

Sunday, my mother would introduce us to beautiful

family fi lms like ‘Sujata’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Parichay’

etc. My father, on the other hand, was very strict. He

did not allow us to watch television or fi lms. Whenever

he would go out on work, we would watch as much as

we wanted. But we didn’t always get away with it.

When he came back home, he would check if the

TV was hot. If it was, he knew we had used it and

would scold us.

But I was fascinated by fi lms. When I saw Shakti

Samanta’s or Dev Anand’s fi lms, I would wonder about

how they were created and produced. I found this

aspect of fi lms far more interesting than acting or

directing. Much later, I learnt how director-producer

Subhash Ghai and Yash Chopra made their fi lms

by watching them on cable television. I also loved

watching Basu Chatterjee’s fi lms. He is one of my

favourite directors in the industry. I am also highly

inspired by the work of production house Navketan

Films and fi lms like ‘Tere Mere Sapne’. All of this

encouraged me to pursue a career in fi lm production.

MUMBAI CALLING!

My mother hails from Mumbai and we used to travel

often to the city to visit our cousins. My sisters and I

It was a lot of fun

working with Bhumi

Pednekar for ‘Toilet –

Ek Prem Katha’. She

was so dedicated

that on set, we

didn’t see Bhumi,

but her character

Jaya instead.

With Sonu Sood

With Arjun N Kapoor

With the ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’ team