There is insurmountable pressure on a director when he is tasked with making a film. But for Hitesh Bhatia, who was making his debut as a director with Sharmaji Namkeen, the task increased tenfold when the star of the movie, Rishi Kapoor, passed away. For months, the makers toyed around with the idea of roping in Ranbir Kapoor and getting him fixed with prosthetics to play his father to finish the remaining 40 per cent of the film. “We didn’t have [enough footage of Rishi] or the right information to get it done,” says Bhatia, who was in touch with several big international studios to bring fruition to Rishi’s last film. “The process was getting hindered again and again and the end result was not good.”

Hitesh Bhatia and Ranbir Kapoor