‘Aashiqui 2’: At its core, the film is simple and emotional, says Mohit Suri

Ananya Bhattacharya of Zeenews.com caught up with the director of `Aashiqui 2`, Mohit Suri.

When in 1990 Mahesh Bhatt created the ‘dream’ called ‘Aashiqui’, little did he know that the film would receive the status of a cult upon its release. Twenty-three years down the line that dream of Mahesh Bhatt is on its way to be taken forward with ‘Aashiqui 2’. Director Mohit Suri has helmed the project this time around with newcomers Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. The music of the film has already set on fire charts everywhere, and what remains to be seen is whether or not the film will be able to re-create the magic that its predecessor had done two decades back.

Ananya Bhattacharya of Zeenews.com caught up with director Mohit Suri. Snippets from the conversation: The entire country knows what status ‘Aashiqui’ holds in the hearts of people. Were you scared about directing a sequel to such a film? Yes… Sequels in themselves are a bigger pressure on the people associated with them. I had finished working on the story earlier and then got down to working out whether the story was deserving enough to get the title of ‘Aashiqui 2’. Music was the strength of the first film. How did you go about choosing the people who would provide music for the second one? I’ve always stuck to making great music. Even before the name of the film was finalised, I’d begun working on the songs with Mithoon. We did a lot of work on a lot of tracks and then zeroed in on the ones in the film. A lot of hard work and creativity was involved in the making of the tracks. I’d always kept the choice of the music-makers open. I wanted to have great music in my film and not necessarily work with great names for that. Launching a new voice somehow felt a better option to me than working with the ones who are already established in the industry. I feel a new voice works well with a new actor, and till now, Arijit’s voice has suited Aditya well! What made you cast two relatively new people in ‘Aashiqui 2’? During the making of the film, we had launched a talent hunt. There were a lot of people who turned up for auditions, but there were many others who thought that being denounced publicly was a bad idea. When we finally chose these two people – Aditya and Shraddha – we felt that they would suit their roles well. Aditya is a non-conformist by nature; a very unconventional person. His character in the film, too, is the kind of person that Aditya is in real life. Shraddha, on the other hand, is a docile person, and has family values deeply embedded in her. She is exactly the kind of girl I was searching for to cast in the role. How well do you think people will be able to relate to ‘Aashiqui 2’? The story is a personal one... it deals with the people that you are. ‘Aashiqui 2’ has at its core a story that is simple and emotional. It is not larger than life – the film is one that you might feel deals with somebody that you know, someone who is around you. I feel that is where viewers will be able to relate to the story. How was it working with Aditya and Shraddha’? We had a lot of fun during the making of the film. On my part, I have worked with all newcomers all my life and this is not a new thing for me. I am 31 years old, but I’m eight films old too. The most interesting part about directing these newcomers – Aditya and Shraddha – was the fact that they come with a fresh, new body language. Things are a lot different today than the time I’d directed my earlier films. It’s a refreshing change. Do you feel you’ll be able to recreate the same magic with the sequel that ‘Aashiqui’ had done? ‘Aashiqui’ was set in another era. Trying to create that magic in today’s day and time is a daunting task, and there are absolutely no doubts about that. My work lies in making these newcomers reach the level that ‘Aashiqui’ has set in front of us.