Love Storiyaan director Archana Phadke on making love stories beyond violence, sex: 'This is what SRK...' | Exclusive

Karan Johar’s docu-series Love Storiyaan gives a peek into the lives of real people sharing their experiences of finding and preserving love in their lives. The docu-series, which is available to watch on Prime Video has won the hearts of the audience. 

In an exclusive conversation with DNA, Somen Mishra along with the three directors of the docu-series Archana Phadke, Vivek Soni, and Hardik Mehta talked about the making of the series and opened up about the evolution of love in cinema. 

When talked about the challenges faced while making a docu-series in a way that it relates with the audience, Archana said, “There is this saying, in fiction, the director is god and in the documentary, god is the director. So I think, in a documentary what you really have to do is just be there to receive what is in front of you. I think as human beings we have a lot of things in common between us. We want this kind of love that goes beyond the seas. This is what Shah Rukh Khan stands for. Then you come across a story that Shah Rukh Khan stands for. I was like this needs to be captured. That is something each of us got attracted to in our love stories. As a filmmaker, you have your own voice, so script or no script, you are going to bring some script even if it is through edit. So I think documentaries are made on the edit table, rather than pre-deciding what to do because everything you decide, will fall apart.” 

Vivek Soni further added, “I totally agree with what Archana said, we can have a basic idea. So the process was when we met the couple and understood their story and after that we made a basic structure that there is this character, it is pushed to some odds and then rises. When the character enjoys a victory, you also feel happy about it. After this, we just have to let the characters be. A lot of the things were not planned.”

He further said, “The journey which the couple takes from Meghalaya to Assam, what happened was that the kid got lost because we had stopped somewhere in between and we were capturing something, and then Nick, who was getting us the permission for the sacred forest and all, and Rajni was busy doing something else, the kid was busy playing with a car and he left somewhere and didn't come back for 5-6 hours. So everything came to a standby and they were crying and we didn't know what to do. Then I told my DOP to keep rolling. We kept recording in a way that didn't disturb their personal space. So we captured every moment. After 6 hours, the kid was found, and we captured how he reacted and how his family reacted. So these happy accidents are what make the documentary worth watching. So when you get that moment of truth, that’s what makes a documentary successful.”

Archana further talked about making love stories beyond sex and violence and said, “I really want to make films that make people go from situationships to relationships. I think so. That would be a great thing. We are making love stories that are beyond violence and sex.” 

Somen Mishra revealed that the team was struggling to find a title before finalizing Love Storiyaan and said, “One of the ideas was to call it Jab Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya but a feature film already existed. So, my team all the six filmmakers, and the Amazon team somehow couldn't finalize one title. Somebody suggested calling it Love Storiyaan and we were reluctant to call it Love Storiyaan because it was a documentary and people were already giving gaaliyan to that word. But we also thought thematically it’s a great thing."

Somen added, "The hate has come for it, and we thought let’s Change the hate to love. At first, it looked like it was elaichi in the biryani, but after the biryani was made, it didn't feel like it was an elaichi. Somebody said it that it’s a great title, why does no one use it? And then the title was registered by some other producer and we asked him and requested him for it and it was very nice of him to give it to us. I mean we didn't have the rights to our own song. But once we started seeing everything, we all thought it was working for us and thought let’s go ahead with it. But initially, we were reluctant, hesitant, and not sure what to do. But I am happy that we all agreed upon it.” 

Hardik talked about the inspiration behind his story An Unsuitable Girl and said, “Actually my wife Akanksha grew up with a pet, and one day what happened, that pet passed away and we were in Lucknow for a shoot and she was so heartbroken about it that I had to go away from the shoot and go back home and be with her and console her. And I had no pet of mine and I got so touched with it that I thought maybe i’ll get to do something about it one day. So when I read Ekta and Ulekh’s story, I thought this is my chance to impress my wife because I think this is what marriage is all about. After one or two years, you have to keep impressing them to make them feel that it was the right choice. So, Ulekh is such a great man, that men aspire to be. They are not judging the women, working hard to win the love of the kids. So this is an example of a man that I should give out to India in the current situation especially.”