New Delhi Feb 23 PTI Director Shakun Batra says he has now embraced the good the bad and the criticism around Gehraiyaan which has become one of the most polarised and debated films of this yearThe 39-year-old director admits that the conversation around the film went out of his control and it was initially overwhelming to sift through starkly varying opinions about the movie that begins as an infidelity drama but actually explores themes of generational trauma and choices versus destinyI was hoping for a conversation when we were putting the movie out I obviously didnt expect such a huge polarised debate and discussion around it I was surprised by the sheer amount of it Batra told PTI in a Zoom interviewGehraiyaan revolves around Deepika Padukones 30-something yoga instructor Alisha whose six-year-old relationship with Karan Dhairya Karwa has grown monotonous Alisha who is estranged from her father and grappling with a childhood trauma is drawn to her cousin Tias Ananya Pandey fiance Zain Sidhant ChaturvediTalking about the first couple of days after the films February 11 release on Amazon Prime Video Batra said he realised the debate around it had gone out of my controlNow that some dust has settled the director behind films such as Ekk Main Aur Ek Tu and Kapoor Sons said the criticism is welcome and easy to understandIts the noise thats hard but when you zero in people are accepting that the truth of this film is more than just one thing I dont think its a perfect film Ive managed to kind of embrace both sides of it The good the bad the criticism the appreciation because theres so much of everything Batra believes that while surprises in Kapoor Sons a film about sibling rivilry and dysfunctional family worked a certain segment of the audience and critics hated those in GehraiyaanAsked why he often returns to the dysfunctional family setting which is central to the plot of his films including his debut Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu the director said it comes from a subconscious levelFamilies and the dynamics between people are interesting because theyre so close but so much is unsaid These are people whove spent so much of their childhood together and I enjoy that people who share similar histories dont connect Surprises in Gehraiyaan may not have worked for some but the director is glad that people are connecting to the indie themes which are close to his heart Batra said it was a challenge to fit these issues into a mainstream film backed by a banner like Dharma Productions and fronted by a star like DeepikaAsked whether the film should have been marketed in a different way the director admitted that a section of the audience had different expectations from the film and the hype around it had him worriedIts not a film that walks down chartered territory When you come to that unfamiliar space its not necessarily going to agree with you in that way It is a movie that is a bit unsettling Its not your comfort zone of mainstream cinemaBut I feel thankful that I managed to experiment within the mainstream in a certain way It may land for some and may not for others but I dont like the status quo I dont enjoy the familiar Batra said marketing a film like Gehraiyaan is challenging because one has to be careful about not alienating the audiences by talking about complex themesIt was trying to find a more universal thing that can be spoken about in a promo I wasnt even sure how many people would get to the layers of choice destiny cyclical generational trauma etcYou always market a film for a bigger audience and with the familiar but the film is not going in the familiar place Almost two weeks after its arrival on the streamer Batra said he has drawn some marketing lessons through the filmThere was also this criticism that some of the key points were similar to Match Point a film by Woody Allen who is accused by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow of having sexually abused her when she was sevenBatra said he has no qualms about admitting the impact that the film or Allens filmography have had on his cinemaIm a student of Woody Allen films Of course theres a lot of controversy that surrounds the man today but I have seen so much of his cinema in my early days Ill be a hypocrite to say that those things dont stay with meOf course the tropes of Match Point or any other infidelity thriller I have homaged to all those things even Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful He may have used familiar tropes of an infidelity thriller but his film is executed differentlyMatch Point is about luck my film is about choices and destiny Fatal Attraction is about lust and how that ruins a family So the tropes are familiar but what to do with it as a writer and director is where the thin line between plagiarism and inspiration lies Another criticism the film faced was that there should have been a trauma warning for the suicide scene that appears in the film Batra said they are in the process of implementing itAmid all the judgement a scene that has stood out for its beauty is the conversation between Deepika and Naseeruddin Shahs characters as daughter and father whose distant relationship finds a resolution in the final moments of the filmBatra who initially had a shorter version of the scene wanted to create the distance between the father and daughter and slowly close itThe way they come and sit next to each other and what theyre saying to each other is very important Honestly a lot of credit goes to Naseer and Deepika for just doing it with such grace PTI BK RDS BK BK