Ishaqzaade is clearly inspired from Romeo and Juliet...

Romeo and Juliet were two innocent kids. Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra are not innocent at all! When you come down to the fundamentals of a story, there are broadly just about 10 or 12 stories. What makes a story different is its plot, the sequence of events. In Romeo and Juliet, a very important plot point is the manner in which they die. Nothing like that happens in my film. Now if one is to call every story in which a guy and a girl have to fight for their love Romeo and Juliet, then maybe…. But then again, there is nothing in my story that is similar to Romeo and Juliet.

Yash Raj Films is known for its candyfloss romances while Ishaqzaade is an earthy, almost grungy love story. Was it easy to break with tradition?

I am a very middle-class person. The place where I have grown up in Delhi, everyone was very passionate and very high on emotions. There was a certain boisterousness and loudness in the expression of emotions. That’s stayed with me and that’s what reflects in my films. Whether it was Band Baaja Baaraat (which he wrote) or Do Dooni Chaar (which he directed), you could see that boisterousness somewhere. As a filmmaker, I get very excited with rough edges. Even Salaam Namaste, that I wrote, was set in the NRI rom-com mould, but it had that edge to it. Preity (Zinta) and Saif (Ali Khan) were a couple, but for almost the whole film, things were not smooth between them.

Were Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra always your first choice for the roles of Parma and Zoya?

When I wrote the film, I had no actors in mind. But both (producer) Aditya Chopra and I were absolutely sure that the lead pair couldn’t be recognised stars. I shortlisted a few faces and Arjun Kapoor came into the picture. But things weren’t easy for him because of his lineage or his father’s name. There was no pressure on me from Aditya Chopra or from anyone that ‘Hey listen, this is the launch pad for Boney Kapoor’s son’. I put him through a lot of theatre workshops because I wanted to make sure that this city slicker could become a small-town boy. Once I was sure that Arjun was as excited about the story as I was, did I confirm him for the role.

In Parineeti’s case, Maneesh Sharma, the director of Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, had fallen ill and since I had written the dialogues, I was asked to step in. At that time I was casting for Ishaqzaade and I figured that there was a possibility that I could cast Parineeti in Ishaqzaade, provided she lost some weight. I did see a lot of Zoya in her, but she also had to go through a grind similar to Arjun’s.

Whether it is Anushka Sharma in Band Baaja Baaraat, Neetu Kapoor in Do Dooni Chaar and now Parineeti in Ishaqzaade, the women in your films are very strong...

There are men who fantasise about women sexually… I fantasise about women who are strong and intelligent. The women in my films need to be spunky and strong, have a mind of their own. If it has to be a story of a boy and a girl, if they are not equal, it won’t be any fun. Bollywood needs strong women characters. Shruti Kakkar (Anushka) in Band Baaja Baaraat is actually stronger than Bittoo (Ranveer Singh). In her own quiet way, Kusum Duggal (Neetu Kapoor) in Do Dooni Chaar had an innate strength. I guess it also comes from the fact that my mom was a strong person and my wife and daughter are both strong women too.

What has been easier — directing veterans Rishi and Neetu Kapoor in Do Dooni Chaar or rank newcomers Arjun and Parineeti in Ishaqzaade?

Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh came with the same excitement that I saw in Arjun and Parineeti. If Arjun and Parineeti were newcomers, even my lead pair of Do Dooni Chaar had to learn and unlearn quite a bit because they have never really been a part of the middle-class milieu that they represented in the film. But then again with Arjun and Parineeti, I had to get down to the basics of hitting your mark in front of the camera… catching the light…. But they were both quick learners. And once my newcomers got into the groove, it didn’t really matter whether it was Rishi Kapoor I was directing or Arjun Kapoor.