Director
Ritesh
Menon
says
it
was
a
dream
to
have
filmmaker
Prakash
Jha
as
the
producer
of
his
first
film
Crazy
Cukkad
Family
as
he
gave
him
creative
freedom.
The
comedy
film,
starring
lyricist-composer
Swanand
Kirkire
in
his
lead
acting
debut,
Chak
De!
actress
Shilpa
Shukla,
Kushal
Punjabi
and
Siddharth
Sharma
is
produced
by
Rajneeti
director's
Prakash
Jha
Productions.
Ritesh
said
he
could
not
believe
his
luck
when
Jha
approved
his
script
and
decided
to
back
it.
"Prakash
Jha
is
every
new
director's
dream.
I
had
taken
my
script
to
many
producers
but
it
did
not
work
out
but
one
day
I
sent
it
to
Prakash
Jha
office
and
I
got
a
call
in
the
afternoon
itself
that
he
wanted
to
meet
me
to
discuss
the
film."
"He
gave
me
full
freedom
to
work
the
way
I
wanted
to.
He
was
always
involved
but
never
interfered.
He
trusted
me," Ritesh
told
.
Crazy
Cukkad
Family
is
a
humorous
take
on
the
inter-personal
relationships
within
a
family.
The
director
developed
the
story
from
an
idea
by
Punjabi.
Menon
had
not
intended
it
to
make
a
comedy
but
it
turned
out
to
be
one
because
of
its
entertaining
script.
"I
knew
it
was
an
entertaining
story,
I
had
narrated
it
to
some
of
my
friends
and
they
enjoyed
it
so
I
felt
like
telling
the
story
but
I
did
not
think
like
I
had
to
develop
it
as
a
comedy.
The
situations,
dialogues
and
characters
in
the
film
are
funny.
I
am
hopeful
people
will
accept
the
movie," he
said.
Ritesh
credited
his
footing
in
the
industry
by
assisting
cinematographer-director
Santosh
Sivan
with
whom
he
worked
in
films
like
Tahaan
and
Before
the
Rains.
"Whatever
I
am
today,
it
is
because
of
Santosh
Sivan.
He
has
been
a
great
mentor.
I
was
not
only
an
assistant
director
for
Tahaan,
I
even
wrote
the
film
and
only
because
he
insisted.
"He
used
to
make
me
write
a
couple
of
scenes
every
day
from
seven
in
the
morning
till
the
evening.
Though
I
cribbed
then,
I
am
grateful
to
him
today
for
making
me
slog
out.
That
gave
me
a
better
understanding
of
filmmaking
and
now
I
have
some
good
work
to
show
in
my
resume," Ritesh
said.
Crazy
Cukkad
Family
releases
on
January
16.
PTI