Gehraiyaan was toughest film of my career to find a title for, says producer Karan Johar

All eyes are on the star-studded drama Gehraiyaan (2022) after its trailer was launched on Thursday.

Starring Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa, the film has been directed by Shakun Batra.

The cast and crew gathered virtually to launch the trailer and speak about their labour of love. Producer Karan Johar was the first to come online and share some interesting trivia. The film remained untitled until very late.

“Gehraiyaan was titled literally a month and a half ago," the producer said, sharing how the title was picked from a song from the upcoming feature. "When we dropped [that] beautiful song is when finally Shakun Batra zeroed in on a title.

“It was the toughest film of my entire career to find a title for,” he continued. “We just couldn’t find a title. Everybody gave really bad suggestions, including me. I think I gave some of the worst suggestions and they were just thumbed down by Deepika, Shakun, Sid, Ananya, Dhairya, and the whole gang. It’s difficult to find a title because it was a difficult film to make.

“It’s really a film about the power of love, lust and longing by millennials and by everyone in the Gen Z generation, and how they react to [it],” Johar said, adding that this was a film about choices. The filmmaker stated that the trailer only scratches the surfaces of what’s ahead for the characters.

Writer-director Shakun Batra is also making his debut as a producer with Gehraiyaan. Batra made his directorial debut with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012) and followed up with Kapoor & Sons (2016).

He revealed that he had waited a long time to make a film about infidelity and about complex relationships. Batra developed the story with Ayesha Devitre Dhillon and wrote the screenplay with her and Sumit Roy.

“I was so scared when I was writing this film to be able to make sure that I have actors who would support it wholeheartedly, who would see it for what it is,” he stated. “We wanted to observe a relationship without the lens of judgement. Deepika, from the word go, saw it like that and she was the first person on board.”

Discussing the film with Padukone and Johar, he knew he could go ahead with the kind of film he wanted to make. The rest of the cast fell into place afterwards.

The biggest hurdle the film faced was shooting during the COVID-19 pandemic, with multiple schedules in Mumbai and Goa.

Batra was also asked in the question-and-answer session about including the credit of an intimacy coordinator, which is unusual for an Indian film. He said he brought on board filmmaker Dar Gai, who is a good friend. She had made music videos previously that have dealt with intimacy and was a good fit for the project.

“Just like choreography and action, intimacy is a very specialized space,” he said. “You have to create an environment where actors can feel comfortable. You have to think and prep like you do for a song or an action sequence.”

He read about it from productions in the US and other international projects. “I really thought if we want to begin and take the film in a new direction, then we should also embrace them,” Batra said. “I was hoping to bring this for my actors and crew and design a good system where everyone is comfortable. It has been so helpful.”

Gehraiyaan is due to be released on Amazon Prime Video on 11 February.