According to Tanuja, directors need to multitask

Tanuja Chandra is beaming with happiness, as her latest feature Qarib Qarib Singlle is getting good response.

Interestingly, her last Hindi film was Zindagi Rocks, which released in 2006. What took her so long to come up with another film? “Well, in between I was working on something. Few scripts were ready and I was on the verge of making two of them, but things didn’t work out. I wrote a book of short stories, and also made a short film, which hopefully will release soon. Also, making a film takes time. Directing is not just ‘the time, action and cut,’ there are a lot of other factors associated with it. You need to have a proper script, put a team together, sign on the cast, producers, etc.”

Qarib Qarib Singlle, starring Irrfan and Parvathy, is based on a radio play her mother Kamna Chandra had penned almost two decades ago. Tanuja loved the story, and decided to contemporise it. “We felt that the story would connect with the audience. So, (actor) Gazal Dhaliwal and I gave it the required modern approach. The story is about this woman who is stuck between her traditional conditioning, and the modern approach of taking the help of a dating app to meet someone,” says Tanuja. With the film, she wants to break the myth that you fall in love only once. “In the film, the girl falls in love for the second time, and the man does for the fourth time. These two individuals soon start enjoying each other’s company,” she says.

PHOTO: WASEEM GASHROO/HT Tanuja feels falling in love only once is a myth