It’s almost 13 years that director Onir’s My Brother Nikhil released but the director says even today the film touches an emotional chord within him.

“I feel proud that in this huge space of cinema I managed to make a small little space with this film. After so many years people still talk about it. I was in Delhi recently at one in the night when I was going to my hotel. I heard someone playing the song Le chale from My Brother Nikhil on the radio. I am very emotional about my work and I feel proud that I have realised my dream as a filmmaker. I am fortunate that I am doing what I love,” said the director.

While he went on to make films like I Am, Chauranga, Bas Ek Pal and Shab, Onir’s latest film playing at the theatres is the romcom Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz.

“This is a commercial film with a boy and a girl in the lead for once,” Onir joked.

“When I heard the script I fell in love with it because it made me realise of the love during my college days. It relates to the essence of love and reveals that love from the earlier times to now is the same. Just that the tools of love are different. Now people try to find love through WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder. In a world of turbulence the film gives out the message of love and let love,” said Onir.

Zain Khan Durrani from Kashmir and Geetanjali Thapa from Sikkim are the leads in the film.

“I had auditioned Zain for Shab and saw the spark in him. But somehow we didn’t sign him for the film and he worked as an assistant director with me. When I was casting for this film I thought of him. He had a certain presence and good diction. But we went through five auditions before we cast him. What worked for him is the voice the character needed. Certain kind of intensity he had. Geetanjali walked in at the café and I knew she was my Archie. I had not seen Geetanjali’s work before but after I saw her in Liar’s Dice, I loved her all the more. She’s choosy and that’s good about her. She is one of the best actors I have ever worked with,” he adds.

The film has some poems by Abhishek Chatterjee, which Zain narrates as an RJ in the film. “Zain is a poet in real life and I gave him the opportunity to write some but he was lazy and lost the opportunity. For some people it comes from within and not when told to write and that makes him a great actor and not a technician,” he said.

Now that Onir is in the mood for romance, his line-up will be a romcom again. “It’s titled Driving Lesson and stars Tannishtha Chatterjee and Ashish Bisht. I have fallen in love with life again I think,” the director said.