Sutapa Sikdar, late actor Irrfan Khan’s wife and a writer herself, spoke to us about how Irrfan was tired of acting on TV and wanted to try his hand at direction. In fact, Sutapa was writing a show titled Janam Samjha Karo that Irrfan was supposed to direct over two decades back, but the show got shelved.

Sutapa reveals, “The show was based on a story of four couples who get pregnant together and was called ‘pathbreaking’ at the channel party in Delhi. We had been flown down for the event and the show had been commissioned by the channel. A month later, we were informed that the channel’s strategy had changed after another show with a conventional storyline found huge success. That was the turning point in my professional life as a writer, and I decided to leave TV. I realized that you get TRPs when you create stereotypes rather than characters.”

Speaking about how Irrfan got roped in to direct the show, she adds, “Irrfan got tired of acting in TV shows and decided to direct a show himself.”