In 20 days, War entered the 300-crore club, a first for a Hrithik Roshan-starrer. It's only fair that its director Siddharth Anand is excited when he meets us at a hole-in-the-wall Khar cafe. His tongue is firmly in cheek despite nursing his wife who is down with dengue and being cared for in a hospital that's a stone's throw from the eatery. "It was expected that I became an actor. And now that I see the lifestyle stars lead, I am wondering why I didn't!"

Anand comes from a family that's long associated with Hindi cinema. His father Bittu Anand was the producer of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Shahenshah. His grandfather Inder Raj Anand, wrote over 100 films including the cult romance, Ek Duje Ke Liye, introducing Kamal Hasan to Bollywood. Uncle Tinnu Anand is best remembered as the character actor who lit up films like Ghajini. The other uncle, Mukul Anand, directed Khuda Gawah and Agneepath, both seminal Bachchan films. "My earliest memories were of going to the Shahenshah set in Ooty and watching a hot air balloon with Mr Bachchan and Meenakshi Sheshadri take off."