When Tevar director Amit Sharma landed in Siliguri last week he was in an upbeat mood as he prepped to shoot a life-celebrating commercial. However, on May 12, on the day they were to start rolling, a massive earthquake rocked the region.

This was the second earthquake (7.3 magnitude on the Richter scale) after the catastrophic one which had struck Nepal on April 25. “I was taking a nap in my hotel when suddenly, my room started swinging violently,“ Amit recalls. “Initially, I thought I was dreaming but when I opened my eyes, I was staring at death.“ A brick fell on his head and he ran for his life, stopping only to grab his cell phone. “I was on the fourth floor and thought I would never make it to the ground floor as the whole structure was shaking vigorously and the walls were developing cracks,“ he shudders at the memory.

Once down, Amit called home to inform the family that he was safe and rushed to rescue the rest of his crew. “I immediately decided to return to Mumbai. I couldn't risk so many lives after what was the most frightening moment of my life,“ he says.

Since the ad has to be shot on the toy train to Darjeeling, Amit will have to return to Siliguri, but not immediately. “We're still reeling from shock. Thankfully, there were no casualties, we will return later this month,“ he says.

Amit Ravindernath Sharma, 35, chose to add his father's name in his, as he wants his father to always be with him during his journey in films.Amit has two sides to him. He is a giver and deeply emotional when it come to his loved ones, but can get really tough and selfish when he needs to take work out of you. He may have a cleanliness OCD, but he is dead crazy hardworking and has directed 900 ad films, before he made his film debut as a director with Boney Kapoor's Tevar. Over an hour-long conversation, he talks to Bombay Times about getting trained under Pradeep Sarkar, what made him get his father remarried and what he does to keep his mother alive. Excerpts:

How did you come to becoming a film director?
I am a Punjabi Brahmin born and brought up in Delhi. My parents were government servants. My mother worked for the engineering department of Doordarshan and unlike my father, who was a complete film buff, she had no interest in films so much so that while she would go with him every Friday to see the latest film, by interval, she would be fast asleep in the hall. But ironically, I came into this industry because of my mother. I had an older sister who was also working, so when I was in Class XI, I would be alone at home feeling like a king. So once when I came back home from school, my mother called me to ask, 'Modelling karega? Acting karega?' She would read every word in the newspapers and she had seen an ad asking for models for serials. I used to do a lot of theatre when I was in school and that very moment, I decided that I wanted to be a hero. Through one of her friends who worked for Contract Advertising, I managed to connect with Pradeep Sarkar, who was also making freelance films. After ten days, I get a call saying come to this studio and if you have a girlfriend, bring her along too. I never had a girlfriend, so I reached there and on the way outside the studio, there were two girls passing by and I asked them, 'Do you want to act?' And they both were like ya ya. I said, 'Come with me.' And I took both of them inside. There was a scratch film being made for Limca, in which I was a junior artist sitting at the back in a college canteen with these girls. So this fat guy (who I didn't know at that time was Pradeep Sarkar) said, 'Tum na, look at that sexy girl who will come.' And I realised that he was Pradeep Sarkar. I introduced myself to him and was later selected as the mainstream actor for an ad film that was to be shot in Manali and I was too excited. It took me 18 hours to reach Manali, but my shoot got over in just 2 hours. It was October 9, my mother's birthday, and I had faced the camera for the first time. I didn't want to go back and told dada, 'I want to stay back and work with you.' He allowed me to stay back and while in school, I remained in touch with him after which, I joined him. I worked with him for six years and shifted with him in 2001 to Mumbai. I stayed with him till 2003, after which I formed my own company Chrome Pictures with my girlfriend Aleya Sen Sharma (who also worked with me under Pradeep da) and Hemant (my childhood friend who had assisted Shoojit Sircar). I had learnt direction from Pradeep da and production from Shoojit sir and we started making ad films. Pradeep da bahut kamaal ke aadmi hain. When he made Parineeta in 2004, he called me to assist him. But I was getting married to Aleya at that time. I called her and told her that dada was asking me to push my wedding and she was okay. I then called my mother who said, 'Are you mad? There is no date for another year.' I decided to get married to Aleya instead of working on Parineeta. After making 900 films, including films for brands like Idea, Tata Tea Jaago Re and Google Reunion, I reached a point of saturation and wanted to make a film. Boney Kapoor offered me Tevar and here I am.

How was your experience working with Boney Kapoor?
I feel very close to him. It's very important for me to have my space on set. In our early days of shooting in Sambhar, I once found him very grumpy on the set. Seeing him like that put undue pressure on me and I requested him to not be on set. He returned to the hotel, where he waited for me at the lobby to talk to me. Can you imagine his problem was with production as to why they had not put us up in a better hotel. That's the kind of producer he is. Throughout shooting, I had a special bond with him and he said, 'Tu mere beta jaisa hai.' He has told me about his debts and I have told him yeh sab nikal jayega. If I have taken the responsibility, I will try my best to take you out of it. He has given me my first film. I have been called by a lot of people after they saw the trailer. But I have told everybody that listen I am there in the market, but right now I am with Boneyji, so my second film I owe it to him. Professionally, I might be getting more money outside, but I am not selfish in that way and am very loyal.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My mother who I lost in 2008, in a car accident. My father would always be worried about me and would say, 'Tu kya karega zindagi mein. Na toh tu padta hai, na likhta hai.' And my mother would tell him, 'He will find his way, don't worry.' She was the one force behind me and she was always that one push that I needed. For instance, when we decided to leave Pradeep da and start off on our own, our parents were visiting us in Mumbai and I told them that I was leaving the job the next day. My father immediately said, 'How can you think of this in a recession time? People are not getting jobs and you want to leave your job. What you earn in one month, I earn in six months.' I got really disturbed and lost all my josh. My mom said, 'Don't listen to what your father has told you. He has always been a government servant and has believed in a secured life. You want to do a creative job. Just do what you want to.' My father was sitting there only and she said, 'Aap chup raho. He will do it and I know he will make it.' My mother came from a small village called Chandi in Haryana. She had come all the way to Delhi, finished her education and taken up a job to make her life. So for her, the struggle was much more than my father, who had always lived in Delhi and was resistant to change. In the beginning while working with Pradeep da, I would come home and cry as I felt I couldn't do it. Pradeep da would not hold your hand and teach you and I would feel completely lost. But my mother would say, 'Whatever you do in life, you will have to go through this. If you want to leave the job leave it, but remember that wherever you go you have to face all this and the day you overcome all this, is when you will succeed.' My parents had always been a couple who were like lovebirds. They were both fond of walking and be it winters or summers, they would go hand-in-hand every night after dinner to take a stroll for an hour. In 2008, my parents and both the kids of my sister were to go for a wedding from Delhi to Jind in Haryana for a family wedding. My father's driver had gone for a holiday. I was shooting in South Africa, so I called my father and insisted on sending them in a hired car. They left Delhi at 8.30 am and an hour later, the driver slept off and they met with an accident that took my mother away from me. I miss her. She was like a tree under which we all were standing. I asked Boneyji for two things. One, before the film starts, I want my mother's picture and second, I want a premiere for my father, as he is a film buff. And the large-hearted Boneyji immediately said, 'Done. Given.' After my mother died, I didn't leave my father even for a day in Delhi. I made him resign from his job and come to live with me in Mumbai. He was like a child once she left. For four years, me and my sister went mad looking after him. He would just cry all the time. I first made him work with me in office and look after the office, but everyday he would come and howl. One day I came and scolded him badly and asked him to just go back home. More than him I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to cry in front of him as I knew that if I cried in front of him, he would break down more, so I would cry on my own. My sister and I, without his knowledge, registered him on a marriage website to find a match for him. It took us four years to convince him, but we finally did and got him remarried. I told him, 'Papa, why are you thinking about what people will think? They are not going to look after you.' He said, 'You used to love your mother the most and still you are asking me to remarry?' I reminded him how one day it was my mother who had jokingly told him, 'If something happens to me, you should get married.' I have now bought him a house and he lives there.

Talk about Aleya?
Me and Aleya met when I was 21 and she was my first girlfriend. She is very intelligent and ambitious. My mother always called me God's son, as I am a very religious person. I still do puja everyday but after she died, my faith got shaken up. I became very uncertain about life. Coming from Delhi, I wanted to buy a house, so I bought a house in Lokhandwala on loan. But once I lost my mother, I started working like a dog, as I felt that if something happened to me, what would happen to the loan and I had a father, wife and son dependent on me. I didn't share my burden even with Aleya as I didn't want to burden her, though I should have told her. I am a giver and I don't like taking anything. After my mother, I am very responsible. She always used to tell me, 'Amit, you love me so much you will never let me die.' On her funeral, I told her I will never let you die. So I started a foundation on her name, where I try and do however much I can.