It’s not the audience alone that is missing seeing romance on the big screen. Filmmaker Aanand L Rai shares the sentiment. “I can’t survive without making romantic films,” he remarks. No wonder then he is gearing up to helm another love story, Tere Ishq Mein.

“The project will go on floors by the year-end. We are in the final stage of writing and that will go on till the last minute,” he smiles.

Tere Ishq Mein is the director’s third collaboration with Dhanush after Raanjhanaa (2013) and Atrangi Re (2021). Kriti Sanon is tipped to be the leading lady (Kriti to team up with Dhanush, August 9). While the project was announced last year, Rai took considerable time to flesh out the story that presents two contrasting ideas of love.

“The two protagonists will have two definitions of love and there will be a conflict because of it. It is stemmed in how today’s generation holds their emotions back. My generation has one definition of love, and today’s generation has another.”

Through the movie, the director wants to understand the love language of today’s youth—their expectations, cynicism, and most importantly, their calculated approach to it.

“The current generation fears getting hurt. If you fear pain, how will love happen? There will be no love stories, only calculations. When people saw Atrangi Re, they thought, ‘I want a man like Dhanush.’ He will understand you, support you, but what will you do for him? [This generation] doesn’t think about that. They will hurt [others], but they shouldn’t get hurt. Also, they have a fear of showing their sadness to the world. So, if their lover leaves them, they pretend not to be in pain. Are you in love or a competition?”

Relevance is key for any artiste. With Tere Ishq Mein, Rai wants to be relevant by attuning himself with the present. “In 2011 with Tanu Weds Manu, [I] was in sync with the audience. It was a new kind of small-town love story, breaking [the mould] of foreign locales and chiffon sarees. For a maker, the biggest struggle is to stay relevant. That is possible only if I understand the present generation. I have a certain definition of love, but I have to evolve for them,” says the filmmaker, who is also producing an OTT romantic drama.