Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat EXCLUSIVE! Milap Zaveri Praises Harshvardhan-Sonam: 'There's Hatred On Screen But...'

Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat on ZEE5: Milap Zaveri is a happy man as his romantic drama Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat has created ripples in the digital space upon its premiere on ZEE5. After making waves in the cinemas and crossing the Rs 100-crore club, the movie has received an amazing response from the audience as it released on the leading OTT platform.

In an exclusive conversation with Filmibeat Chief Copy Editor Abhishek Ranjit, Milap Zaveri spoke about Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyatt and whether its success matched his expectations or not. The talented director bared his heart out as he talked about having a blast while working with Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa.

Here are excerpts from the interview-

1. The film has performed strongly at the box office. Did this success match your own expectations - especially after audiences recently embraced other intense love stories like Kabir Singh and Saiyyara? Were you confident that people would connect with this kind of passion on screen?

We were extremely confident about the film because we knew we had a very strong story and a great musical score. Intense love stories like Kabir Singh and Saiyaara had done big business, and Sanam Teri Kasam's re-release, for Harshvardhan Rane, had achieved extraordinary, well, historic re-release collections. We had a lot of faith in the film, in Harsh and Sonam's performances, in the extraordinary music, in the interval point, in the second half's drama and emotion, and in the dialogues, the drama, and the intensity of the love. We were very confident that people would feel this passion when they came into the theatre and watched the film, and that's why the film has done such huge, historic business at the box office.

2. This film explores a shade of love that tiptoes into obsession. As a director, what do you feel about the impact cinema has on today's youth when it comes to love, boundaries and emotional intensity?

Yes, the film does have shades of obsession. As a director, I felt the impact that it has on the youth when it comes to love boundaries, emotional intensity. Well, I guess love and romance is something that cannot have boundaries, right? What is intense for someone could be something else for someone. Of course, people try to put moralistic codes, but love matters of the heart, really don't have any rules. And I genuinely believe that cinema doesn't, it's not like cinema has to only be something that has to try and educate people, it can also entertain people. And honestly, I don't think this thing exists that people see films and emulate it in real life.If that was the case, then after Munnabhai, everyone should have gone and done Gandhigiri, but they didn't . So I just feel if you want to show a powerful romance that's intense and obsessive, there have been films in the past like, Shah Rukh Khan's Darr which were extraordinary and which had obsessive love, and they were also super hits like Deewaniyat. So I don't really think that it has an impact on the youth where the youth will get affected to that level with something like that. And also, if you notice, if someone notices in Deewaniyat, Harsh never crosses a boundary of respect with Sonam's character. He never touches her. He never physically does anything. His emotional love and his passion and madness is there. But he physically never crosses a line or boundary with her anywhere in the film, which is something we were very careful about.

3. Harshvardhan and Sonam Bajwa share a deeply charged, emotional dynamic on screen. How important was it for you to ensure a warm, trusting off-screen rapport between your actors for a story like this? And what did you most enjoy about working with these two?

Harsh and Sonam actually share a very charged, emotional dynamic on screen where there's almost hatred and love, where Sonam can't stand his character. But, in real life, they are such good friends and they had such a lovely rapport. And Harsh was so trusting, understanding, giving and helpful to Sonam. At the same time, Sonam was the same with him. I've never seen two actors be in such tandem with one another, where they both are helping each other excel. And that was amazing to see the bond that both of them formed, and that bond is there till now, even though there's hatred on screen, there is a great friendship in real life. And what I enjoyed the most about working with Harsh was his constant contribution to his character, the character's backstory. As, he not only thought as an actor, he also thought as a filmmaker, as a writer, as a student of cinema, as an audience. And he gave such great suggestions in the script to me also. And his intensity, his willingness to listen to what, I had in mind. And the trust that he had on me I loved. And with Sonam, what I liked was that time she questioned me. At times, if she had a strong point of view, she brought that point of view out. She made me either convince her or get convinced by her, which is a very healthy way to work with someone. And obviously, she's a lovely girl. And she was great fun on set. She has a habit of breaking into giggles and then she's uncontrollable. So we obviously had a great time even, pulling a leg on that.

Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat is available for streaming only on ZEE5.