Mumbai: Filmmaker Omung Kumar said that he decided to begin his career with a female-oriented film "Mary Kom" after male actors were taking a lot of time to give him dates.
"It's not that I have purposely been taking up women-oriented scripts; but yes, first one ('Mary Kom') was, because I wanted to break the clutter. Actors were taking so much time to give me dates, so I said, 'Forget it, I'm going to do a female-oriented film'," he said in an interview for his upcoming film "Sarbjit".
"But here ('Sarbjit') the change was that the script came to me. It's not that it is an Aishwarya Rai film, that's why I am doing it or because it is female-oriented. It so happened that it was the struggle of a family but from the point of view of a sister, so that made it female-oriented, not that my third is also female-oriented."
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Omung Kumar had started his career as a production designer and worked on films such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" and "Saawariya". His wife Vanita has done the production design on both of his films.
About the importance of women in his life, he said: "My mum is what first comes to mind, a strong, central character and then came my wife. So every female in my life is a strong character."
About his films' lead actresses - Priyanka Chopra ("Mary Kom") and Aishwarya ("Sarbjit") both former beauty queens known for their glamorous image before their completely transformed look for these films, he said: "Both are dedicated in their own way. Priyanka Chopra was apt for 'Mary Kom'; I can't see anyone else doing that role. She did a fabulous job and that gave respectability to my second film.
"Over here, Ash is an epitome of beauty but how did she change herself for this film and role, hats off to her! Such a fantastic actor and to the point; she just changed my Dalbir Kaur and made it her own, she just became Dalbir Kaur for me."
"Sarbjit" also starring Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadha and Darshan Kumar among others releases on May 20.
IANS