Apoorva Lakhia left for America days after the release of Misson Istaanbul. Lakhia's New York-based brother Abhijeet is due to tie the knot with his American girlfriend Leslie on August 1.

The director will be with  his family in the US for two months now. "My brother and Leslie will have a Church wedding in the US. Then we'll bring them down to India in winter for a big fat Indian wedding where all my friends would be invited," says Apu excitedly.

Brothers in arms

Apparently, Apu's bhabhi-to-be can't stand him. "That's true. She feels each time I'm there, I steal my bro away from her. Many times Abhijeet refuses to do things with her which he happily does with me, like going for a play or a concert. That gets her goat. I'll have to make an effort to win her over."

While Apu's brother Abhijeet has reason to rejoice, the director's cousin, actor Aditya Lakhia has been dealt a blow by his bro. While filmmakers are known for plugging and pushing their kith and kin, Apu mercilessly chopped off first cousin Aditya Lakhia's role in Mission Istaanbul. Aditya, (who played Kachra in Lagaan) appears in the film for just one sequence.

Not my fault

Apu defends, "Don't blame me. It's his fault. I had given him a very good role but Mission got delayed and when we worked out fresh dates, Aditya was busy with Shaurya, where he had a much better role. Instead of replacing him, I chopped off his part. It's a pity because that character had many important scenes."

Teen Sawaal
Upala KBR quizzes Apoorva Lakhia about the low collections of Mission Istaanbul

The collections are not up to the mark.
Whatever can go wrong has gone wrong this weekend, from bomb blasts to the heavy rains. In Gujarat (a big market), all the cinemas are closed, Bangalore has no shows after 6 pm and parts of Maharashtra also are not running evening shows. The rains in Mumbai have not helped. I guess any film released this weekend would have met the same fate.

What response are you getting for the film?
Word of mouth has been good. People who have managed to see the film have liked it.

Are you happy with Mission Istaanbul?
For the subject and the kind of film I wanted to make, yes I'm happy. I made a film my producers and I believed in and I think its kickass. I'm a little unhappy about the fact that people in some parts of India did not get the chance to see it.