I don’t miss acting: Sanam Re director Divya Khosla Kumar

Though Divya Khosla Kumar started out in Bollywood as an actor, in Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo (2004), little did she know that destiny had other plans for her. She realised that film-making was her true calling, and after years of perseverance, she made her first film, Yaariyan, a college love story, in 2014. Now, after two years, she is back with a musical love story, Sanam Re, starring Yami Gautam and Pulkit Samrat.

“I’m a very hardworking girl. I struggled for 10 years before I made my first film. I never knew destiny had these plans for me. I’m happy because I can put all my creative strengths into my projects. I am better suited to be behind the camera. Frankly, I don’t miss being an actor,” she says. Divya, who is a mother to a four-year-old boy, thinks two years isn’t too much of a time gap between two films. “My son was one when we shot for Yaariyan and now he is four. As a mother, and a homemaker, two years is a good enough speed.

Watch the Sanam Re trailer here

I wanted to push my limits and challenge myself, and hence, Sanam Re is completely different from Yaariyan. This is a pure love story, and we have a Valentine’s Day weekend release,” says Divya.

Read: More women should turn directors: Divya Khosla Kumar

Pulkit was her first and only choice to play the protagonist, and Yami, she says, was finalised later. She elaborates, “I looked at Pulkit’s eyes and told him, ‘I can see a certain sadness in your eyes.’

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He fit the bill perfectly. Yami has this infectious smile and that was important, but she is a very popular face on television, so after almost six months of extensive workshops, I cast her. I couldn’t have been happier with my choice.”