Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan recently revealed that Saif Ali Khan was initially unsure about starring in the 2004 thriller ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ that marked Raghavan’s directorial debut and featured Urmila Matondkar opposite Saif Ali Khan.The director spoke about the casting during a Masterclass session at the Red Lorry Film Festival. Speaking about Saif’s initial reaction, Raghavan said, “For Urmila, it was an auto-backed role, and Saif was a little unsure because he had just done ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. He had just started getting a sense of whether people liked or not; he has not had many successes for a long time.” He further added, “‘Ek Hasina Thi’ was his 44th film. He was not sure whether this was the right thing to do. But somehow, we got along; we sort of liked the same films and books. So, he trusted me.”

Director explains how ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ came to him

Raghavan also shared that the opportunity to direct ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ came after he missed the chance to make another film. He revealed that he was initially working on a project with Ram Gopal Varma that later became Ab Tak Chhappan, which was eventually directed by Shimit Amin. Recalling that moment, the filmmaker said, “I was going to do something else with Ramu, which I didn’t do, and it was ‘Ab Tak Chhappan,’ which Shimit Amin made. It was a story of an encounter cop, and at that time it was called ‘Daya’. It was not a biopic.” He added, “We worked on it for quite some time, and Ramu felt this was not the right time to do this, so we decided to push it.” Although disappointed at first, the situation led him toward another story that eventually became ‘Ek Hasina Thi’.

Finding the right story for his debut

After the earlier project was shelved, Ram Gopal Varma offered Raghavan another script to consider. Sharing his reaction, the director said, “At that point, my face fell, and he saw it and said there’s one more story, just look at it.” Raghavan continued, “I went home, and I was like ‘Whatever the story is, I want to do it, so I’d better like it’. I did it with the intention of liking it and found good things in it.” He also revealed that the script was quite raw and written more like a novel. The screenplay was written by Pooja Ladha Surti.

Lessons learned from Ram Gopal Varma

During the session, Raghavan also spoke about the valuable advice he received from Ram Gopal Varma after completing his debut film. According to him, the filmmaker encouraged him to avoid repeating the same formula in future projects. He recalled Varma’s words, saying, “We finished the final cut, and Ramu saw it. He said, ‘You’ve made a good film. I would advise that since you’ve made a good film, do not try to repeat it, and you have to decide whether you’ll enjoy the film , or think of your next film, like where is your enjoyment.“Raghavan added, “So, I had to choose, and I’ve chosen well.” The advice helped shape his approach to filmmaking in the years that followed.Meanwhile, Raghavan’s latest release is the war drama ‘Ikkis’ starring Agastya Nanda in the lead role and the film received decent reviews.