'Tuesdays & Fridays' director feared Bhansali would reject producing film

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Taranveer Singh's debut directorial, Tuesdays & Fridays, is produced by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The greenhorn filmmaker reveals that he didn't approach Bhansali with his film for the longest time for the fear of being rejected.

The filmmaker reveals that he carried a DVD of Bhansali's 1996 release, Khamoshi: The Musical, and got it signed by the ace filmmaker when he agreed to produce Tuesdays & Fridays.

"The kind of films SLB is known for now are a far cry from my kind of films, so I didn't tell him about my film for a very long time. I kept thinking he would reject my script and not want to make 'Tuesdays & Fridays' because it is so not his sensibility," recalls Singh.

"But he gave his nod the day he heard the narration. That's when I took out my DVD of 'Khamoshi' from my bag and asked him to autograph it. I'd carry it in my bag every time I visited his office but never had the courage to ask him to sign it until that moment," he says.

Singh is nostalgic about watching Khamoshi: The Musical, which he says prompted his desire to make films.

"'Khamoshi: The Musical' was the film that made me want to be a filmmaker. A moment in the song 'Yeh dil sun raha hai' has Manisha Koirala raising her hand while singing in a studio and starts gesturing in sign language so her deaf and mute parents can 'hear' what she is singing. That moment gave me goosebumps the first time I saw the film at a dingy single screen in Gwalior as an 11-year-old. It still does!" he recalls.

The debutant director concludes, saying: "That moment made me realise the power of film as a medium. It is interesting that my first film is produced by the man whose first film made me want to be a filmmaker."

Tuesdays & Fridays stars Poonam Dhillon's son Anmol Thakeria Dhillon with Jhatalekha Malhotra in lead roles.