Escaping the parent trap

If Pyaar Ke Side Effects was about romance, heartbreak and reunions, filmmaker Saket Chaudhary had a different task with its sequel. In Shaadi Ke Side Effects, he wanted to depict his lead pair (Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan) as seasoned parents. “Farhan is a caring father himself.  His character in the film may be a tad irritated with the presence of a kid, but in real life, he has raised his kids very effectively. He knows the drill,” Saket said of his hero.

As for Vidya, her maternal skills have been honed, courtesy her sister’s children. “Vidya’s sister has twins and she has seen it all when it comes to raising them. In a way, she has encountered ‘how to be a parent’, up, close and personal. She gave me a couple of ideas of what it means to a woman to have a child and family. Both she and Farhan shared anecdotes about how the rest of your life is on the backburner when you have a child. It’s no longer about just your own plans,” Saket says.

Saket himself hasn’t experienced parenthood yet, but says he’s had a ringside view of child rearing from his friends. “I have attended so many children’s birthday parties,” Saket says with a laugh. “It’s amazing to see the effort parents put into organising them. I got the best of both worlds when it came to demonstrating parenting in Shaadi Ke Side Effects.”