He made his directional debut with "Strangers" in 2007 and followed it up with "Thodi Life Thoda Magic" the next year but both the films failed at the box office.
Rai says when he was working on "Tanu Weds Manu", which featured Kangana Ranaut and R Madhavan, he was advised to make the character of Manu more "macho" to fit in a bigger star. The director is happy that he did not consider the advice.
"But there was a little bit of confidence in my story and myself. I thought if I change Manu, then the story won't be the one which I want to narrate. If it is not that story, I will be doing the same mistake. My story was asking for the right cast and luckily that paid off," he added.
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In retrospect, his previous two attempts at direction don't have an 'Aanand L Rai feel' to them and the director says that is because even he was searching for his voice back then.
"I was also searching for Aanand Rai. (I thought) I was there to prove a point. Then you learn with time that you don't have to prove a point to anybody. As a maker you have to tell a story," he said.
The 46-year-old director turned producer with "Tanu Weds Manu" under the banner 'Colour Yellow Productions' which has backed movies like "Nil Battey Sannata", "Happy Bhag Jayegi".
He is elated with how his last production "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan" was received by the audience. The film will have its TV premiere on &Pictures on February 24.
Directed by R S Prasanna, the movie featured Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar in lead roles and chronicled the story of a man suffering from erectile dysfunction.
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