Making `Teri Meri Kahaani` was three times more difficult: Kohli

New Delhi: Director Kunal Kohli says it was three times more difficult to write his upcoming Priyanka Chopra-Shahid Kapoor starrer love story, which is played out in 1910, 1960 and 2012.

"It was three times more difficult to write `Teri Meri Kahaani`. I wanted to connect these three stories and keep some of it in the past and still make it youthful and modern. I wanted it to appeal to everyone. So I have created humour and situations which would be liked by everyone," the `Hum Tum` director told reporters. Kohli says he chose the era of 1910 because he wanted to show a different take on the freedom struggle. Priyanka plays a Punjabi belle in the segment while Shahid is a complete casanova. "Everyone takes a very serious approach to that part of the history. It is unromantic and non-colourful. My attitude to the freedom movement was different. Shahid plays a complete casanova. I thought it would be interesting to show a character like this in the middle of freedom movement." While recreating pre-independence India was tough, Kohli had more fun working on the disco era of the 1960s Bollywood. It is full of references to his favourites-- Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor, the actors who ruled Bollywood at that time. "It was tough but great fun. I was remaking an era where I was bound to get influenced by people like Raj Kapoor, shammiji, Dilip Kumarji and Dev Anand. You will see a little bit of all these stars. We created make-up, studios and trams of that era." Kohli is returning to the big screen as a director after a gap of four-years. He last directed ‘Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic’. In between, he turned producer with Imran Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer `Break Ke Baad`. "The break was not planned. It was just that I was busy producing a film and it is was as involving as making a movie." Kohli, who writes his own scripts, says it is more difficult to direct from own story as you can`t blame anyone for the failure. "Writing is a very lonely process because you are by yourself for a long time but I got help from Robin Bhatt for the screenplay this time. There are certain things that people expect from my movies and I try to live up to that," he said. PTI