We’ve heard about how you first took your story to Nikhil Advani and he ended up not producing your film but directing something similar. Have you seen Salaam-e-Ishq?

(Cagily) I have seen it, yes.

And...

It’s nothing like Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. apart from the fact that it too was about six people discussing similar issues like love, relationship and marriage. But the similarity ends at the conceptual level. My film is also an hour-and-a-half shorter.

The biggest grouse against Salaam-e-Ishq was that it was too long. You agree?

I think the tracks needed a little more editing. Now can we talk about something else?

Ok, which track gave you maximum stress?

All of them had their own issues but the Boman-Shabana track required a lot of working because there were certain things my actors found lacking in the script.

Was the Parsi-Muslim angle deliberate?

I only wanted to create a range of contemporary Indian characters and explore what happens with them. The Boman-Shabana track was primarily a reaction to the popular notion that love, marriage and honeymoons can only happen with young people. Why should age be a bar?

It’s cute the way Shabana tries to get Boman to pronounce Ghalib right. We’ve heard that there was a lot of improvisations on the sets. Was this one of them?

No, Ghalib was always a part of the script though Zoya Akhtar (the executive producer on the film) did make some suggestions when we were working on the scene. As a rule I tried to follow my instincts and used the script for the most part as a guideline leaving plenty of room for improvisations.

... contd.