What Shinde regrets about Dear Zindagi
Director Gauri Shinde (left) feels she could have done a better job with her last film Dear Zindagi, which starred Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt. “I am my own critic. I look back and always feel I want to make certain changes,” she says. The director regrets not adding a certain scene in the film. “There is a deleted scene of aircraft that is out on YouTube. I wished I had kept it, but then there was an issue [movie length] so we couldn’t keep it. It was a hard call to take. But there are certain things right for that moment,” she adds.
Shinde, who made her directorial debut English Vinglish (2012) starring Sridevi, is happy that actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt agreed to work with her. “I don’t write stories keeping actors in mind. I work hard on the stories which convinces the actors to come on board. I have been lucky that these people said yes to the films immediately after reading the story,” she says.
Her debut film won several awards but that was not the case with Dear Zindagi. The filmmaker, however, is not disheartened as she does not find awards authentic. “It doesn’t matter to me, as it is a bit of a game. If they were credible, it would’ve mattered.”