His words, “I’ll never make a romantic film”, is haunting him today when he is all set to release his first romantic film, Mod. With a guilty look on his face, he says that there was a time when he thought he had nothing new to bring to the table when it came to love. Until he saw a Taiwanese film, ‘Keeping Watch’.

Talking to Metrolife Nagesh Kukunoor says that through Mod he has finally been able to emancipate love from its regular cliche. “This is a run-of-the-mill romantic love story between two individuals. The only difference is that both the protagonists never utter the words ‘I Love You’ in the entire film and that’s what caught my eye,” he adds. After all in all his previous films, be it ‘Rockford’, ‘Hyderabad Blues’ or even Dor, he had given a different angle to simple stories.

Nagesh’s passion to bring forth good stories, be it on a commercial or offbeat subject, is not only evident in his direction but also in the way he speaks. Being emotionally attached to one’s project is always risky, specially in the film industry and Nagesh says he has learnt this the hard way.

“When Aashayein and 8X10 Tasveer didn’t do well, it upset me a lot. One of the biggest mistakes I did was not promoting the films during their making. There was a time when small films were simply released and they spoke for themselves. Today, I have to see that I make a noise even before going to the location. After all, we are now playing in the same field as a Ra.One,” he says.

Teaming up with Ayesha Takia for the third time, Nagesh laughs at the mention of her being his lucky charm. “I have never believed in patterns when it comes to cinema. Ayesha is a wonderful and talented actress and every time I have worked with her, I felt that she was able to carry the weight of the character,” he says.

Nagesh may possess a unique eye to find a fresh talent but for long, one has not seen him in front of the camera. Ask him about it and he says, “I have always been into direction. So, a role really has to make sense to get me distracted from the director’s seat. There has been a long gap since I last acted and I really have to be sure about it. Till then acting will have to take a backseat,” he signs off.