Mudassar Aziz: ‘They are not passive recipients of male behaviour’

Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan in ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh Do’. Pic/Youtube

Soon after Pati Patni Aur Woh Do's trailer dropped online, an unexpected discourse surrounded director Mudassar Aziz - that his movies normalise infidelity. To him, the dialogue is welcome, as long as it comes from a place of fairness. "This is my seventh film. Never before have I made a film that legitimises infidelity," began Aziz.

Mudassar Aziz. Pic/Instagram

The May 15 release revolves around Ayushmann Khurrana's character's dalliances with two women, portrayed by Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, while his wife grows suspicious. Pointing to his body of work, Aziz said that he feels misunderstood when such criticism comes up. "Both Ayushmann and I have a history of doing films that don't approach gender politics in a skewed way. In Pati Patni Aur Woh [2019], the husband is faced with the consequences of his actions when his wife and girlfriend join forces. In Happy Bhag Jayegi [2016], I created a protagonist who chooses her partner. Women in my films have always had agency. They are never passive recipients of male behaviour." For him, the film's emotional core doesn't lie in betrayal.

It took the director some time to convince Khurrana. Aziz shared, "We had three rounds of narrations. After the first time, Ayushmann said he wanted to hear it again. Before the third narration was over, he was having so much fun that he said, ‘Let's do it.' He comes with a history of subjects that are difficult. He is never afraid of complicated emotional space."

A still from ‘Saiyaara'. Pic/Instagram; (right) Mohit Suri. Pic/Yogen Shah

Notes from my friend

Few Hindi movies have made an impact at the box office in the post-pandemic landscape. According to Mudassar Aziz, the audience today seeks conviction over all else - a lesson he learnt from his friend, filmmaker Mohit Suri. Aziz shared, "Nobody expected ‘Saiyaara' [2025] to blow up the way it did, but Mohit believed in it completely. He recently said in an interview that when he was making films with conviction, commerce followed. But when he started chasing the latter, he lost both."