Our firsts often leave us with valuable lessons. Anubhuti Kashyap would agree. In the three weeks since her maiden feature film Doctor G opened to an underwhelming response, the director has cut the emotional cord that bound her to it, to gain an objective perspective. So, what has been her been biggest takeaway? 

“There were a lot of wrong decisions made, even in the script and narrative arc,” she says thoughtfully. A coming-of-age story of a sexist gynaecology student, the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer was well-intentioned but inconsistent. Kashyap, who co-wrote the script with Sumit Saxena, Saurabh Bharat and Vishal Wagh, attributes it to the tonal differences.

“Sumit and I are different writers. [That resulted in] tonal differences. More than regrets, there has been learning. The biggest one is that you must be completely satisfied with the script before going to shoot.”

While making the social comedy, Kashyap drew from her experience as an assistant director on filmmaker-brother Anurag Kashyap’s movies. In hindsight, she realises that every director must find their distinct approach. “Anurag’s scripts are mostly half-written, and he forms them as the films are made. I came from that school [of filmmaking]. So, [when approaching Doctor G], there were certain parts that weren’t finished in the script, but we thought, ‘Let’s shoot it now, we will see it later.’ The film would’ve probably worked better had it been completely my script, giving me more control while shooting it.”

That said, she stuck to her guns on most occasions, including changing the lead character from being “out-and-out misogynistic” to “casually sexist”.

She has taken the box-office misfire in her stride. “Its opening figures were better than our expectations. Also, those who watched it liked it. That is the saving grace.”