"Do Aur Do Pyaar" Director Discusses Portrayal of Urban Relationships

Director Shirsha Guha Thakurta, who delves into the reality of urban relationships in her feature debut, claims that infidelity is a "loaded term" and that's not what her film "Do Aur Do Pyaar" is about.

"Do Aur Do Pyaar" is about a married couple named Kavya and Ani (played by Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi) who indulge in extramarital relationships but fall in love again after a vacation to Ooty brings back memories.

With 15 years of experience as an ad filmmaker, Guha Thakurta said she has tried to present a tale about growing out of love without giving it any meaning.

It's a love story, not a movie about adultery. You have the right to find love elsewhere if it's no longer working for you. The term "infidelity" carries a negative connotation. It's a heavy phrase, infidelity. In an interview with PTI, the debutante director said, "We have tried to make sure people don't see it (infidelity) as something we are either promoting or calling it wrong or right."

"This is what happens in urban relationships—they grow out of love." We don't talk about what happens to love as it ages, in my opinion. We as a society must either address these fascinating and crucial issues or accept the reality of what is," the speaker said.

Released on Friday, "Do Aur Do Pyaar" also stars Ileana D'Cruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy. Though film started out slowly at the box office, the romantic comedy garnered positive reviews from reviewers.

The fact that some viewers were able to discern the subtleties in the movie, according to Guha Thakurta, is encouraging.

That "We don't judge any of them" was written by someone. Since that was one of the largest things we've tried, I take that as a major compliment, the 40-year-old stated.

It was crucial to keep things lighthearted and avoid making it seem depressing since things may get serious. That isn't how the entire movie should be. People might not even want to see it, given the serious comments you're making," she said.

According to Guha Thakurta, before Balan joined the project, the producers, Applause Entertainment and Ellipsis Entertainment Production, had already chosen to cast her as Kavya.

"They did consider Vidya. In theory, she had consented to carry it out. Gandhi was chosen to portray Ani after a look-test with Balan, the actress said. "She signed the film only after we had a locked script," the actress stated.

The movie "Do Aur Do Pyaar" has an actor called Nora being romantically involved with businesswoman Ani, while dentist Kavya is having an affair with NRI photographer Vikram. Ramamurthy and D'Cruz, respectively, play the parts of Vikram and Nora.

We were concerned that many people would be afraid to follow Vidya as a second lead. Not many people want to portray the needy girlfriend, so Ileana was excited to play something that is gray. However, she said it in a convincing manner, so you don't become upset with her since you can understand her viewpoint.

We did consider a candidate for Sendhil's role who was not an NRI. However, one of the producers, Tanuj (Garg), was acquainted with Sendhil. He reached out to him and arranged for it to happen. Sendhil agreed, thus we revised the character. In addition to being a wonderful actor, he is really attractive. The director stated, "That's how we wanted it."

The 2017 American film "The Lovers" directed by Azazel Jacobs, starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts, is adapted into "Do Aur Do Pyaar."

The Hindi translation, according to Guha Thakurta, varies somewhat from the original.

She said that they revised the plot over the course of a year and a half. "Any relationship drama, when you change the country and culture, everything changes, we've also changed the age group of the couple," she stated.

The original plan was for "Do Aur Do Pyaar" and "Crew," starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon, to open in theaters on March 29. According to the director, the producers ultimately chose to reschedule the release to prevent a conflict between two "women-oriented" movies.

"The film was shot a year and a half ago, but we never had a release date. There was a sort of churn in the business where no one was visiting theaters. At the time, everyone was anxious about the movie's release.

"March 29 was the original scheduled release date for the movie. "Crew" was scheduled to be published a week earlier at that point. But, the producers didn't want two movies aimed at women to come out on the same day, so they rescheduled the movie from March 29 to March 29 (the "Crew" creators). Therefore, we changed the release date to April 19.