Excerpts edited for clarity and brevity

You told me earlier that Band Baaja Baaraat happened almost by chance, you never intended to make it.

At the time, I was assisting Aditya Chopra on Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. After it wrapped, he asked me to start developing something for my debut. I had already shared the idea of Fan, which he liked, and I wanted to make that. But he insisted it can’t be my debut foray, as it was too ambitious. I was taken aback. In my mind, I had always been moving towards Fan. Then, on a flight from Mumbai to Delhi, I read a magazine about young Indian entrepreneurs. Something stayed with me: people with limited resources still venturing out, trying to create something of their own, even on a small scale. That became the seed of the story, and soon Bittu and Shruti were born. I wrote a rough draft of the story, different from the one which appears in the film, and sent it to Adi. He saw potential and said, “You’ve got characters here. Keep building.” By then, I had decided they were wedding planners. From there on, Habib Faisal (screenwriter) and I started jamming on ideas, and gradually, the film started taking shape.

What kind of discussions did you have with Habib Faisal?

I’ve known Habib for a very long time. He was shooting his first film, Do Dooni Chaar, in Delhi, and I was planning to visit him on the set anyway. I told him about my story there, and he said that once his shoot was over, we could sit and discuss it properly. I still remember him saying, “Tumhari tabiyat kuch mere mijaaz ki hai, toh hum iss par zarur kaam karenge. (Your temperament aligns with my style, so we will definitely work on this).” Later, we met at a coffee shop a few times. He kept asking, “Why do you want to make this?” Most of our discussions revolved around the film’s conflict. We had everything else, the characters, the setting, but not the core tension. Eventually, we landed on the idea of pyaar-vyapar, and that became the conflict. After that, it was a very smooth ride.

The dialogues are vibrant and deeply rooted in Delhi’s local milieu.

All the credit goes to Habib, of course. I was from Delhi, so I knew the world and the characters, and contributed my inputs, but it was largely him throughout.

How did you discover Ranveer Singh?

It was through auditions. His name was suggested by Shanoo Sharma. The first test I saw was very convincing, and the second one I took myself was just as impressive. I was sure he was Bittu. Most people around me weren’t convinced, except Adi, he was on board from day one.

Maneesh Sharma revealed that, apart from him and Aditya Chopra, no one else was convinced about casting Ranveer Singh.

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If you look through a different lens, the film is essentially Shruti’s story. Her contradictions, struggles, and aspirations. How was it collaborating with Anushka on such a character, and even today many consider this her best performance?

She was always my first choice. We had developed a strong rapport on the sets of Rab Ne, and I had told her at the writing stage itself that I wanted her to be part of it. Working with her was a unique synergy. We were constantly refining the character together. We knew that Bittu had all the punchlines, and by no means, she had any problem with it, as it was simply a characterisation thing. But I told her that no way Shruti will have less agency. And she completely trusted me. So by the second half, you see Shruti becoming more centered and mature. She has two really strong moments in the entire film. The breakdown and the slap; those define her journey. She’s always the kind of character who hits hard at the right moments, leaves a mark, and that stays with you.

The soundtrack has aged like fine wine. We keep going back to it. How was it collaborating with Salim–Sulaiman?

I’d worked with Salim–Sulaiman on the three films I assisted on. Fanaa, Aaja Nachle, and Rab Ne. On Aaja Nachle, I was part of the music sessions throughout, and that’s where I got comfortable working with them. So they were the obvious choice for Band Baaja Baaraat. Amitabh Bhattacharya, the lyricist, had majorly worked on Dev.D and Aamir by then. And I was excited to work with a fresh energy. The first song we cracked was “Baari Barsi,” and I always wanted our interpretation of it. “Ainvayi Ainvayi” wasn’t originally made for this film. They already had the mukhda, and when they suggested it, it felt perfect for the Delhi-Punjabi vibe we’re going for. “Dum Dum” was originally composed for Rab Ne, but we hadn’t used it there, so it fit one of our situations perfectly. “Tarkeebein” was created to capture the abundant energy of youth, as it was always meant to open the film.

Talk to me about the opening montage, where we hear “Tarkeebein”. It’s absolutely wonderful. Was that sequence always written like that on paper?

The whole team was really excited about how we’d shoot that. The idea was always to introduce the two characters, their exciting worlds, and how their paths sometimes overlap without them actually meeting. It was also a chance to capture the life of Delhi University. I’m from Hansraj College, so it was close to home. The best part was that everyone had a hand in it, my writer, the DP (Aseem Mishra), production designers (Sonal Choudhry, TP Abid), costume designer (Niharika Khan), and even their assistants, anyone involved brought their own inputs, nostalgia and memories to the song. In fact, that instinctive approach wasn’t just for “Tarkeebein”; many montages in the film were created this way. Of course, there was thought behind it, but it came from a very instinctive place. Namrata Rao, our editor, wove everything together beautifully. Looking back, I can say the whole film was made with a kind of “carefully careless” approach, by choice. It worked wonderfully well because the film has a certain mood, style, and tone, and that opening montage sets it up perfectly.

Dum Dum was originally composed for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

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Talking about the form and tonality, the film feels very anti-thetical to typical YRF fare. Was that ever a concern, given you were making a rom-com for such a legacy studio?

With a rom-com and the YRF name attached, there’s always an expectation, about the kind talent, the palette, the morality. Because, there is a certain framework. In fact, our story is a classical rom-com at heart. So what really mattered was how we told it. That was a constant conversation with Habib: are we making just another love story, or is there something different we’re trying to tap into? In those discussions, we were always trying to find the right tonality and texture, the feel you eventually see in the film. And on paper, it was very hard to grasp. In fact, someone at the YRF office read the script and said, “You’ve studied filmmaking abroad, you seem intelligent, so why are you making a ‘cliched Yash Raj wedding film’? What are you doing?” I just told him I’d try to do something with it. I wasn’t dismissing his point, it did look like any other YRF rom-com on paper. So, I told Adi, “I’m not going to shoot it the typical Yash Raj way.” He immediately agreed and asked me to do my thing. From the start, I was sure this wouldn’t be a quintessentially glossy love story, it was going to fully lean into its own style, and that’s what gave it its edge.