IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

Known for his conscientious, hard-hitting films, director Hansal Mehta takes a softer turn with his latest, Baai. Nothing he has made till now, he says, has been so romantic

- Karishma Upadhyay

From all the stories in New York Times' column Modern Love, how did you come to choose the one you finally adapted as Baai?

We were presented with six stories from the column. The funny thing is that no one's choices crisscrossed. Within 10 minutes, we had made our choices. It was quite interesting how each of us naturally gravitated toward a particular kind of story and world we wanted to adapt. A few things in my story caught my attention. There was that feeling of being closeted, and beyond that, an overarching theme of love between the grandmother and grandson. I saw the plot could be easily transposed to Mumbai, and that through it, I could express my own understanding of marginalization, invisibility and, also, love.

Chef Ranveer Brar's casting was an inspired choice. How did that happen?