Are you tired of watching movies about weddings from the female point of view? Well, writer, co- producer and first time director Nayan Padrai decided to tell the male point of view in When Harry Tries To Marry. What makes this film different is its protagonist 22-year-old Harry, played by newcomer Rahul Rai, who apparently cannot wait to have an arranged marriage.

In an exclusive interview with Desiclub.com, Nayan Padrai tells us why the film is for a universal audience.

What is the premise of When Harry Tries To Marry?
It's basically a romantic comedy about this 22-year-old guy called Harry, who chooses to have an arranged marriage, and avoid the pitfalls of falling in love (like his parents).

Where did the inspiration for the film come from? Is it autobiographical?
(Laughs) A lot of people did ask me that, but no, it's not autobiographical. Whenever I would watch films about marriage, they were always from the girl's point of view. I wanted to tell the story from the guy's side. The concept of arranged marriages are often misunderstood, there are a lot people here in the US and in India who want to get into an arranged marriage by choice, and not because they are forced into it. These things were the inspiration for the film.

Tell us something about the cast of the film?
The casting process of this film was very interesting. Like they say, the best of things are sometimes not planned. I had just returned from Mumbai, where I was looking for an actress to cast in the role of Neeta. My producing partner, Sheetal Vyas, told me that she had found a girl for the role but she was in Mumbai, so I told her 'ask her to get in touch with me over skype.' Incidentally, in the movie Harry and Neeta also meet on Skype video chat. I thought if she could impress me over skype then she's perfect for the role because in the film she has to get Harry's attention over skype. Similarly, the casting of Rahul Rai, who plays Harry, was also rather unconventional. I spotted him at a party in New York city, where he was performing with a dance troupe. He had no previous acting experience and was still in high school, he auditioned only during weekends. But by the time we began filming he was out of high school. There was just something very natural about him that made him perfect to play Harry and he's done a great job. He has a very bright future as an actor.

We don't see the usual South Asian characters in your film, was that a conscious decision?
Yes, very much. The whole film called for a new and fresh look, so we needed new faces. I want this film to be a discovery, something on the lines of Bend It Like Beckham - except for Anupam Kher, everyone in that film was unknown, and it added to its appeal and worked in favor of it. It made stars out of Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Myers. All the memorable characters in the film were played by virtually unknown or new actors, another great example would be Monsoon Wedding, its most popular characters were played by relatively new characters.

Do you think today's audience will agree with a film, where the protagonist chooses to get into an arranged marriage?
Recently, at the London premiere of our film I met a couple who told me that they had an arranged marriage and they identified with the film. I have a lot of relatives and friends in the US as well as in India who like Harry, prefer to have an arranged marriage. Sometimes family members introduce you to someone they think will make a good life partner for you and there's nothing wrong with that.

Tell us something about the locations seen in the film.
We have shot both in India and in the US. In the US we've shot in New York City and we shot in Kutch, Gujarat, for five weeks.

Music plays a very huge part in the film, tell us something about that.
I've always felt 'what is a movie without good music?' Even before we had the cast and other details of the film we worked on the music. Our film's music is very different, it has nice Bollywood based tracks sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Udit Narayan but at the same time we have very American songs that are different from the current English songs you see in Indian films. We don't have the typical Bhangra number or Snoop Dogg number that you see these days in Indie films.

In March your film won the Best Crossover film at the London Asian Film Festival, how did that feel?
I really appreciate the award but I'm more excited about winning the Best Audience Film Award. The audience plays a huge role in the success of a film and it feels nice to win the best audience and best new talent award.

Is there a memorable incident from the set that you'd like to share with our readers?
There are a lot of moments, but the one that comes to my mind right now is an incident that occurred while we were shooting in India. After reaching Kutch, India, we discovered these beautiful outdoor locations and decided to move a lot of our indoor scenes to outdoor. However, with that came the challenge of shooting with about 5,000 people standing and watching. I have to give full credit to all our actors who pulled off all the amazing key scenes with great intensity despite the immense scrutiny and noise. Shooting there was a challenge, because everyday hordes of people would gather on the sets to watch us shoot. Since we didn't want them to be seen on camera, unlike song sequences in films where you have people standing and watching, this was a massive task. Telling thousands of people over a microphone that 'we're glad you're here, but please keep quiet' was fun!

How long did you work on the film?
It started way back in 1998 when I wrote the outline. I discussed it with my writing partner at the time, Ralph Stein, and we began to write the script. Then I went through the entire rigmarole of wanting to cast actors from Bollywood and Hollywood and eventually it came to a point where I told myself 'forget all the rules and just do things the way you see it.' So it was a long process but in the end I'm pretty satisfied with the way it has turned out.

Do you think mainstream Hollywood is ready for Indie films?
I think so! We are marketing our film in a very mainstream way. It's being advertised in mainstream theatres, TV and other outlets. We are releasing it the way any American Indie film would. It has all the qualities of a universal film for a general audience such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I hope that it doesn't get stigmatized into the bracket of NRI films or Diaspora films.

What's next after When Harry Tries To Marry?
A vacation! I don't know yet, I am working on a few things but firstly I think I'll take a nice vacation.