Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 30, 2015)

For her upcoming film, Dil Dhadakne Do, Zoya Akhtar and her team has come up with an innovative plot twist. On Family Day, May 15, a three-minute video helmed by the director's longtime script collaborator, Reema Kagti, will go on air.

The short film features all six of the film's leading actors, including Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chjopra, Farhan Akhtar, Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma, and one member from their respective family talking about the bonding they share. Six real couples from Mumbai will offer their humorous, touching takes.

"Since the film revolves around the Mehra family and their relationship dynamics, we came up with this idea about a month-and-a-half ago," says Reema. "I don't have a bound script since we have decided on a documentary approach. I will be talking to these families and portions from the candid interviews will go into making the clip."

Reema has already spoken to three families in the city and plans to finish with the other three, along with the stars, by next week. "I have got some great footage and I am really excited. There's an extended joint family, a nuclear family, a family with a dog... Lots of oddities and eccentricities will come to light," she promises.

Reema insists that all families are "crazy" and that is true of her own too. Her father worked for an oil company in Digboi in Assam and her mother was a schoolteacher. One fine day, they threw up their jobs and moved to a farm in remote village Borhapjan. "I was 12 then and for sometime, I remember living without electricity," she reminisces.

The adventure soon became a regular life with her father going on to grow everything on his farm, from grains to medicinal herbs, practising animal husbandry for the next 35 years till he passed away two years ago. Now, Reema lives in Mumbai while her sisters have settled in Banglaore. "But the bonding is still very strong," she asserts.

Reema has also been working on her next directorial, Mr Chaalu which was supposed to feature Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut but now will star Fawad Khan and Priyanka Chopra. "It was inspired by a newspaper article and has some personal touches too," she signs off.