Maneesh
Sharma
Wanted
Shah
Rukh
Khan's
Fan
To
Be
His
Directorial
Debut
And
Not
Band
Baaja
Baaraat!
The
actor-producer
recalled,
"By
the
time
I
was
finishing
Aaja
Nachle,
I
told
Adi
that
I
wanted
to
make
Fan.
He
said
it
is
a
very
ambitious
film
and
I
should
work
on
my
idea.
Then,
2
months
later,
Adi
called
me
again
and
asked
me
to
come
to
YRF.
He
told
me
that
he
is
making
a
film
with
SRK,
which
we
now
know
as
Rab
Ne
Bana
Di
Jodi
and
he
told
me
he
wanted
me
to
work
on
this
film.
Obviously,
I
said
ok.
By
the
time
Rab
Ne
was
finishing,
Adi
said,
I
think
we
should
plan
your
directorial.
I
was
thrilled!
I
was
like
great,
Fan
is
ready,
let's
do
that!"
Maneesh
Sharma
Was
Dejected
When
Aditya
Chopra
Told
Him
That
Fan
Couldn't
Be
His
First
Directorial
Speaking
about
it,
Maneesh
revealed,
"Adi
mentioned
that
Fan
cannot
be
your
first
film
because
it's
a
very
expensive
film
and
very
ambitions
film.
He
said
you
should
think
of
something
which
is
more
mid
-sized
and
not
that
ambitious.
I
was
genuinely
very,
very
dejected
by
this.
I
was
dejected
that
I'm
not
getting
to
make
my
dream
film
and
now
I
have
to
think
of
a
mid-sized
film!"
Maneesh
Sharma
On
Making
His
Directorial
Debut
With
Band
Baaja
Baaraat
However,
Maneesh
Sharma
took
Aditya
Chopra's
advice
in
his
stride
and
the
rest
is
history.
"I
told
myself
that
it's
ok
and
now
I
need
to
think
of
a
new
film
to
make.
I
came
across,
or
thought
of,
&
somehow
Bittu
and
Shruti
came
from
somewhere
in
my
life.
When
I
got
my
characters,
I
worked
on
the
story
and
I
came
up
with
Band
Baaja
Baaraat.
That's
how
my
first
film
as
a
director
happened,
and
thankfully
it
went
well," the
filmmaker
was
quoted
as
saying.
Maneesh
Sharma
Talks
About
Band
Baaja
Baaraat's
Cult
Status
The
director
said,
"When
you
set
out
to
make
a
film,
you
always
want
to
make
a
good
film,
you
always
set
out
to
make
a
film
that
communicates
your
intentions
as
a
storyteller,
as
a
director.
So,
what
has
happened
to
Band
Baaja
Baaraat
by
now,
or
during
the
release,
is
a
very
happy
after
effect.
As
I
said
earlier,
I
never
ever,
till
the
time
I
started
to
write
Band
Baaja
Baaraat,
was
thinking
of
this
film
or
those
characters.
I
was
very,
very
driven
to
make
Fan,
a
thriller.
I
was
always
envisioning
a
certain
kind
of
film
to
be
my
first
film."
Maneesh
Sharma
On
The
Making
Of
Band
Baaja
Baaraat
He
further
added,
"What
I
ended
up
making
as
my
first
film
was
very
different
in
spirit
and
in
thought
in
every
which
way.
It's
a
romantic
comedy
in
a
broader
genre
but
I
think
the
journey
was
more
about
me
falling
in
love
with
Bittu
and
Shruti.
How
this
happened
was
more
circumstantial
because
I
was
not
getting
to
make
my
desired
first
film
and
I
adapted
myself.
I
think
in
that
process
what
did
happen,
was
it
took
me
back
to
where
I
came
from,
the
gullies
I
came
from.
So,
the
making
of
the
film
became
about
nurturing
Bittu
and
Shruti,
more
the
characters
than
the
story
or
anything
else,
and
that
organic
feeling
actually
lead
everything,
in
terms
of
making
of
the
film."