Not many filmmakers would have had the courage to showcase a love story of a transgender person. Abhishek Kapoor now heaves a sigh of relief as his Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui gets a thumbs up from the audience, but he acknowledges that the film was a difficult one to make as it could have garnered mixed reactions. “It is a sensitive subject and one can end up offending the community. I took the mainstream approach to normalise conversations about them,” says the filmmaker of the Vaani Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer.

The romantic drama flips the boy-meets-girl storyline when Maanvi’s lover comes to the realisation that his love interest is a trans woman. Did he think of casting a trans woman for the part? “The mission was to not only make a film, but also deliver a message that reached far and wide; and to bring about change. With the purest [intention], it would have [been ideal] to cast a trans woman, but we also needed a seasoned performer to play the part. Vaani had the right amount of experience [as an actor].”