‘Sense of humour is important in a marriage’

Actor-turned-director Deepa Sahi denies any creative help from husband Ketan Mehta for her directorial debut Tere Mere Phere.

Best known for her roles in Maya Memsaab (1993), Hum (1991) and Tamas (1987), Deepa Sahi’s directorial debut Tere Mere Phere, starring Vinay Pathak and Riya Sen, talks about our society’s obsession with marriage.

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The wife of acclaimed director Ketan Mehta, Sahi insists she didn’t take creative inputs from him, saying, “Once I have written a script, I invite 20 close friends over and have a reading over beer and biryani. I ask them to attack the script and give me suggestions. Ketan also participates in this.” She did ask her husband to produce the film. “It was pay back time, considering I have produced many of his films,” she winks.

Sahi, who also worked as an editor and started an animation and VFX studio called Maya Digital Media before she forayed into direction, says Tere Mere Phere is a romantic comedy. “It’s a road movie shot extensively in the Himalayas.” She informs that she wanted to shoot in the hilly terrain, as it’s the ultimate romantic place, saying, “The torturous paths and the beauty of Himalayas for me were just like a man-woman relationship.”

She has always been intrigued by marriage, saying, “It’s the only thing that legitimises a man-woman relationship. It’s impossible to laugh at serious issues like abuse in a marriage but short of that, most problems are funny and occur because of ego issues. The only way to treat it is in a light-hearted manner.”

Sahi’s first film was supposed to be Nana Karte Pyaar featuring Nana Patekar and Hema Malini. With all preparations done and four weeks left to go, recession hit the market and the film was put on the backburner. She says, “I wrote another script in 10 days flat and luckily, found singer Anoop Jalota’s support to produce Tere Mere Phere.”