Baat Pakki ho gayi....But ask Meghna if she's nervous about her second feature film Just Married. And she shrugs off all traces of agitation.
"My father saw it and he really liked it. I'd like to be a little harsher on myself. But yes, I'd like think my writing skills have gotten better since my first film Filhaal. And I've become better about the technical side of filmmaking.
Just Married didn't actually require tremendous amounts of technical wizardry. It's a very simple story. But I feel I have improved in my shot takings."
Both papa Gulzar and daughter Meghna underwent a tremendous amount suspense while the young director waited to start her second film.
"The second film is truly tough for any director. But knowing the kind of person I am I'd go through a similar stress for every film. In truth my dad was more worried for me than I was.
In hindsight the wait for my second film made me stronger. When producer Pritish Nandy offered me the chance to make Just Married I gave it all I had. I'm surprised at how amusing the film is. I'd call it a light film. I refrain from using the word 'funny' because people associate that word with slapstick."
Meghna says she has inherited a sense of fun from Gulzar Saab. "People tend to look on him as this very serious filmmaker which is true. But he has also made some really funny films like Angoor.
Like my dad's comedies, a lot of the humour in my film is situation-based....I guess my film has a sense of mischief about it that wouldn't be there in my dad's film, though Angoor had its own sense of mischief.
I feel Just Married will appeal to the newly married and those who have been married for long."
She brushes off the ongoing comparisons with Reema Kagti's Honeymoon Travels Pvt ltd. "Reema's film was being compared with Salaam-e-Ishq also. But when her film came out there was nothing in common between two.
But yes, on the outside our films do look similar. It's a film about honeymooning couples. But mine isn't an episodic film. My film has one main plot about a couple in an arranged marriage. The other characters come in as tadkas."
Meghna is very surprised by Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol. "Esha's real personality lent itself well to the character of the nervous bride. Esha is naturally fidgety. But Fardeen was an eye-opener.
The questions he asked me added nuances to his performance. Again, like Esha, Fardeen's character is close to the way he is in real life. Like his character Fardeen got married recently, though he went through a love marriage in real life."