‘How can you hate someone without seeing their work?’

Two new talents hope to find a place in the Hindi film industry with Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan. While Santosh Singh, known for helming Broken…But Beautiful, is making his theatrical debut, the love story will also mark Shanaya Kapoor’s foray into Bollywood. Launching a star kid today comes with incessant trolling and talks of nepotism. It isn’t lost on Singh, who insists that Kapoor was chosen on the basis of merit for the love story, led by Vikrant Massey.

Recalling that he met her after he was impressed by her test tape, the director shares, “We gave her two scenes to prep. She came back after two days, performed the scenes, and I thought she was good. The role she is playing is tough — for anyone, not just a debutant. So, we did workshops with her for three to four months. She also trained with an acting coach. It’s a big responsibility to launch someone. But as long as someone is hard-working and giving it their all, that’s what matters.”

Earlier this year, Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor made their big-screen debut with Loveyapa, which struggled to draw the audience to theatres. Singh believes the disproportionate negativity online played a role. He reflects, “There is a lot of hate now, when it comes to [star] kids. I liked Loveyapa. It bombed purely because of the hate. I hope people will first watch a film, see the performances, then form an opinion. How can you hate someone without seeing their work? Just because their path might’ve been easier in some way? That’s not fair.”

Santosh Singh

Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan, centred on a musician and a theatre actor, is an adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s short story, The Eyes Have It. Having grown up on the much-loved writer’s works, Singh says it was a joy to interpret his story for the big screen. “This story is just six pages. We used it as the base, and created our own story around it. I hope we’ve done justice to what he wrote,” says the director, adding that his biggest support system came in the form of his leading man. “Vikrant is such a versatile actor. After Broken…, we’re doing a love story again.”