Aanand l Rai reveals that he was advised to take a bigger star for tan

After two failures, his turnaround as a
filmmaker happened with "Tanu Weds
Manu but Aanand L Rai was initially told to
rope in a bigger star to grab more eyeballs.
He made his directional debut with
"Strangers in 2007 and followed it up with
"Thodi Life Thoda Magic the next year but
both the films failed at the box office. Rai
says when he was working on "Tanu Weds
Manu, which featured Kangana Ranaut
and R Madhavan, he was advised to make
the character of Manu more "macho to fit
in a bigger star. The director is happy that
he did not consider the advice.
"A big producer told me if I change the
storyline a bit and make Manu a little macho,
he can get me a bigger star. I said, But
that's not the story I am looking at!' After
those two failures behind me, it was a great
temptation to get a bigger star, Rai told PTI.
"But there was a little bit of confidence in
my story and myself. I thought if I change
Manu, then the story won't be the one
which I want to narrate. If it is not that
story, I will be doing the same mistake. My
story was asking for the right cast and
luckily that paid off, he added.
The 2011 romantic comedy not only
changed Kangana's career and cemented
Madhavan's position in Bollywood but it also
helped Rai's become a popular director in
Bollywood. In retrospect, his previous two
attempts at direction don't have an Aanand
L Rai feel' to them and the director says that
is because even he was searching for his
voice back then. "I was also searching for
Aanand Rai. (I thought) I was there to prove
a point. Then you learn with time that you
don't have to prove a point to anybody. As a
maker you have to tell a story, he said.
(ALSO READ: Big news! Aanand L Rai ropes
in Rajkumar Santoshi to direct a film under
his banner? )
"My initial attempts were purely Will I be
accepted as a director?' May be that's why I
failed. There are failures which are the best
teachers. The 46-year-old director turned
producer with "Tanu Weds Manu under the
banner Colour Yellow Productions' which
has backed movies like "Nil Battey Sannata,
"Happy Bhag Jayegi. He is elated with how
his last production "Shubh Mangal
Saavdhan was received by the audience.
The film will have its TV premiere on
&Pictures on February 24. (ALSO
READ: Jimmy Sheirgill talks about the
possibility of Tanu Weds Manu 3)
Directed by R S Prasanna, the movie featured
Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar
in lead roles and chronicled the story of a
man suffering from erectile dysfunction. "As
a family man of the Indian society, I felt it
was the right time to change the gear and
understand how a middle-class family is
changing. I can show that only through
films. I want my films to contribute to a
certain thought process. If I can take the
bedroom talks between two generations or
a husband and wife and bring it to the
drawing room, it's great. Talk it out, what is
the big deal! Rai added.

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