'Why Should Men Not Cry?'

'We are not AI. We are allowed to break, and rebuild.'

Some interviews begin with questions. This one began with tears.

When Syed Firdaus Ashraf quoted an Urdu couplet from Gustaakh Ishq, the film's director Vibhu Puri unexpectedly broke down. The same line had been his grandfather's final words to him.

What unfolded after that moment was far more than a film conversation. Vibhu opened up about a childhood shaped by a displaced grandfather from Rawalpindi, a man who lost his home in Partition but carried the Urdu language like a sacred inheritance.

He spoke of being the only one among six cousins who learnt Urdu, of his grandfather who taught him about love beyond borders and of being scolded by his Ustani during Urdu lessons even today.

When I met you right after watching Gustaakh Ishq, you cried when I quoted the couplet, 'Bahut der kar di aatey aatey.' Why did it hit you so deeply?

That was the last thing my grandfather said to me before he passed away.

Hearing it unexpectedly, after so many years, (hidden wounds) opened everything again.

My grandfather (Uttamchand Puri) came from Rawalpindi after Partition. He lost everything, but brought Urdu with him.

He was worried that no one in the family would carry the Urdu language forward. We were six cousins. Being the youngest, I was the one he got hold of, and I started learning Urdu alphabets from the age of 10.

Gustaakh Ishq is a sort of tribute to him.

I could not be with him in his last days, as I was busy with my film career in Mumbai.

I was working in Saawariya, and then Guzaarish with Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

How did you get to work on Saawariya?

I wanted to be a painter, but my parents didn't want me to be one.

So I came to films. Now, I make paintings worth crores rather than on a palette.

I joined FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) and it was here that I met Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He asked me to work with him in Saawariya (as an assistant director).

Do you still learn Urdu?

Yes. If I don't do my homework, my teacher scolds me.

My mother taught me Gurmukhi; we speak Punjabi at home, but Urdu is my grandfather's gift.

What did your grandfather and father teach you about life?

He had seen Partition but carried no bitterness.

He began his life in India from scratch.

He taught me one thing: Love people.

At this age, I have realised that you think your father is dead but they never die. They live inside you forever.

My grandfather and father will stay inside me forever.

You seem very emotional. You cry easily. You said you even cry watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. What makes you unafraid of showing emotion?

Why should men not cry?

I choke up every day.

I watch cricket and cry.

I cry when something moves me, when something hurts, when something is beautiful... That's what makes us human.

We are not AI. We are allowed to break, and rebuild.

This emotional honesty reflects in Gustaakh Ishq too. Your characters are flawed.

Of course. As the hero's brother tells him, 'Shikari aadmi jo khud shikar ho jaata hain' (The hero thinks he is a hunter but he always get hunted by women).

My hero can't even say 'khuda hafiz' (Goodbye). He is too emotional.

How did you take Hawaizaada's failure?

I broke.

Only you know the world you create.

If others don't understand it, what do you do?

When your child fails, your heart breaks.

It took me a long time to come out of that. 

Naseeruddin Shah's character, Aziz, in Gustaakh Ishq is heartbroken.

Yes. Aziz can't stand up to his own guilt.

He doesn't tell his daughter the truth because he's scared she will hate him.

He lives with that guilt forever.

Some people can never escape it. Time heals, but slowly.=

How did you convince Manish Malhotra about Gustaakh Ishq?

He didn't call me for this film. He called me for another one, based on a book set in Lucknow.

It was a lovely book but I was doing Heeramandi and Taj.

I'm a slow writer and didn't feel my soul in that story.

I told him if I keep telling other people's stories, who will tell mine?

At our second meeting, he asked me to direct my own story. That's how it happened.

Tell us about the casting.

Vijay Varma was my junior at FTII. He had the right texture for this role.

He looks like he carries history and was perfect for Nawabuddin.

Fatima Sana Shaikh read the script and said yes in three hours.

As for Naseeruddin Shah, I blackmailed him and told him that without him, this movie was not possible. Thankfully, he agreed.

What remains of your core belief as a filmmaker and as a person?

Rumi said, 'Wherever you are, be in love.'

I believe that.

Love will heal always.

Films, languages, families, nations... love is the only thing that puts us back together.

That is what I try to do with my cinema.

Save our tehzeeb.

Save our culture.

Remind people we are human, not perfect and predictable.

We make mistakes. That's our beauty.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff