The director (in red) with actors Parth Samthaan, Raveena Tandon, Khushalii Kumar and Sanjay Dutt

First-time director Binnoy Gandhi believes he has learnt from the best. While he served as an assistant director to Ram Gopal Varma, Kunal Kohli and Siddharth Anand, his filmmaker-father-in-law J P Dutta is his biggest influence.

Gandhi, who is gearing up for the release of Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon’s Ghudchadi, shares, “He is particular about his scripts. I get scared to discuss them with him, but talking movies with him makes me learn a lot. So much of what I have shot in Ghudchadi comes from him.”

In the Jio Cinema offering, Aruna Irani plays a matriarch who hopes to see her grandson married; little does she know that her son, essayed by Dutt, is planning to walk down the aisle a second time. While Irani will be a sight for sore eyes, Gandhi says the suggestion of pairing Dutt and Tandon came from producer-wife Nidhi Dutta.

“Nidhi said that the older generation’s love story had to feature Sanjay sir and Raveena. They are like family to her. Raveena loved the script, and Sanju sir was blown away by the one-line concept. He treats Nidhi like a child, and said he had to do it as Ghudchadi is her first baby. I could only think of Aruna ji as the grandmother, and she executed the role beautifully. I used to [shoot] from 7 am to 11 pm, and she would do it cheerfully.”

The slice-of-life comedy is reminiscent of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s brand of cinema. Gandhi says, “He is one of the legends of Indian cinema. If I achieve even one percent of his vision, my job as a director would be complete.”