Mudassar Aziz is super-excited about his first film; even more about Sushmita 'Shimmer' Sen. The director in a chit-chat with Sreya Basu

Are you nervous about the fate of your film ‘Dulha Mil Gaya'?
What the audience will get from ‘Dulha Mil Gaya' is an honest film about love, made with love...the first-time director in me may feel all sorts of anxieties now, but as a person, I'm not short of pride. This film is the result of a very hard-working unit, and stars who live up to being called ‘stars'.

By ‘stars', you mean Sushmita Sen?
Sushmita, Shah Rukh, Fardeen (Khan), Ishitta (Sharma)...all of them.

But you wrote the script keeping Sushmita in mind. Right?
True. Because I know no one else could have played ‘Shimmer' the way Sushmita has. The role was for her only. But again, I would like to add, all the characters in my film have been scripted keeping in mind the actors who will play them...so that they don't have to ‘act' but be themselves in the film.

So let us hear how you have visualized your Shimmer in Sushmita?
Shimmer is a born Shimmer. In fact, the nurses in the maternity ward where she started her life said there was a glow in her. She is ethereally beautiful...she chose to be a model. In her present form, she talks about herself in third person and lives life strictly on her terms. Shimmer is also a strong-willed girl, who has fought her way up in a man's world. She is the queen of Trinidadian high life; the high priestess of fashion.

...and Sushmita is Shimmer in real life?
Sushmita is an amazing woman, a superb talented actor.

How do you place Shimmer in ‘Dulha Mil Gaya'?
See, the two girls in the film (Sushmita and Ishitta) are looking for their respective happiness in life. And by the time the film ends, they get their happiness in their respective ‘dulha'. That's why the film is called ‘Dulha Mil Gaya'. As for Shimmer, she places her independence and career above everything, till she realizes the value of love.

Okay. Then this film is all about marriage?
No, not really. This film is about relationships....that needn't even be romantic. It's about understanding the value of relationships.

What is the USP of this film?
Sushmita Sen, which I think should be reason enough for people to watch ‘Dulha Mil Gaya'. (Laughs). I think the response the music has got even before the release of the film, is a strong hint that people are growing a liking for the film. And also I think, after a long time you will get a complete entertainer that can be watched from the age of six to 60.

Do you think the story line is a novel one?
The most obvious journey of a story is the one that begins at the storyteller's lips and ends at the listener's ears. Some stories find destinations in the heart instead. When you find a story like that... make a film! This was the only feeling that I began this film with.

You are the director, story, screenplay and dialogue writer as well as the lyricist of the film. How's the experience?
Little did I know that this film would transgress beyond being just a film and become, in many ways, a journey unforgettable to anyone who became part of it!

I've seen joys and sorrows, victories and heart-breaks, all through the making of just my first film, and at the end of it all, I wouldn't want to go back and change even one thing on this film... the experience was exhilarating.

You started the film over two year ago. What took you so long...is it because of your differences with Shah Rukh?
No, none, what-so-ever. I started with the film about two-and-a-half years ago. But I got struck for sometime. I am aware that the film has taken quite a while to make, but I would not like to change any bit of it...ever.

I mean, ‘Dulha Mil Gaya' has taken as long as this kind of film should have did; and let me clarify, I had no issues with any of my actors.

When you are working with such a huge starcast, getting them together in combination dates, plus the kind of traumas that one went through on a personal front, that is what added to the delay of the film.