Anubhav Sinha and Bhushan Kumar, who made their debut as director and producer with 'Tum Bin', will take the franchise forward 14 years later
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 25, 2015)

Five years ago, Bhushan Kumar called buddy Anubhav Sinha and gave him an ultimatum. "He told me that if I was not interested in scripting Tum Bin 2, he'd go ahead and make it with some other director. I kept telling him that I didn't have a love story in mind, but he presumed that after directing Dus and Ra.One, I was chasing bigger films," Anubhav told Mirror.

In 2014, when he stumbled on a story about love, lust and loss, he went back to Bhushan who'd warned him that the story better be great since the director had kept him waiting for so long. Forty-minutes later, Bhushan handed him 11 rupees and sealed the deal with a handshake.

In 2001, the fresh cast and inexperienced crew of Tum Bin landed in Canada in winter, excited to film in snow. "Soon, we were struggling with three hours of sunlight and hadn't even known that we needed special shoes. Our shoes were filled with ice and most of us suffered frost bite," Anubhav reminisces about his directorial debut, adding that he had to cut over 45-minutes of footage from the final cut, and learnt the first lesson of filmmaking — never overshoot.

Fourteen years later, the director-producer duo is reuniting for the next instalment in the franchise, which will kickstart in Europe in January. "We're going back to making love in the snow. There will be tears, laughter and melody," rhapsodises Anubhav, saying that the late Jagjit Singh's ghazal 'Koi Fariyaad' had made the album of the first movie, memorable. "If Jagjitji were alive, I'd definitely have convinced him to come on board again because this score will be even more tragic."

Anubhav will be back on a film set after a sabbatical of a year and a half. His last release was Gulaab Gang, which was his production. Before that he had directed the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Ra.One, in 2011. "I took a break because I didn't have a story. Now I'm back to make everybody cry," he laughs.

The original cast, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sandali Sinha, Himanshu Malik and Rakesh Bapat, will not return in Tum Bin 2. Auditions are on for two heroes and one leading lady. The film is expected to wrap by mid-2016.