SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI- HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM

Lata-ji praised the title track

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam had to be a success. After having gone through the trauma of a failed first film with Khamoshi: The Musical, I had poured my heart into it.

    Failure is a very isolating experience. It lowers your morale and self esteem and makes actors wary of working with you. But I had Salman Khan's support throughout. Then, Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also came on board. We had a great time shooting the film.
    I never thought Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam would be so special to the audience. Being a Gujarati, I chose to have a Gujarati family setting for Hum Dil....I got an amazing set of actors to work with me. Vinay Pathak, Sheeba Chadha, Vikram Gokhale, Smita Jaykar, Kenny Desai, not to mention the two most amazing veterans Zohra Sehgal-ji and Helen Aunty.

    When the film opened, my blood froze when distributors complained about the length of the film and even cut the song Dheel De in some centres without permission. Cynics questioned the film's ending, where Aishwarya's character chooses to remain with her husband rather than go with her lover. They claimed I was playing safe whereas I argued I was playing it from my heart. The film was a big success. I was surprised at how the audience connected with its nuances. A lot of praise came my way for the songs and the way they were shot. Lata Mangeshkar-ji paid me the greatest compliment by praising Ismail Durbar's title song. I maintain Salman and Ajay gave their career's best performances in the film. As for Aishwarya, we forced a friendship that has lasted till date.