Our top 10 films by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi

Black Cat White Cat: We love this as well as Under­ground by the same director. The feisty, allegorical and satirical films of Serbian director Emir Kustu­rica is the kind of content and form we aspire to.

Big Fish: Tim Burton at his imaginative, quirkiest best! The most definitive film to us about love and death. This mix of fantasy, comedy, drama and magic is again something we aspire to be doing in our future films.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: There had to be a Pedro Almodovar film on this list. Surreal, kitschy, funny and totally mad! Again, there is a sort of tribute scene from here in our short film Jeewan Hathi (Elephant in the Room).

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: We are surprised at how many black comedies are part of this list! Obvious­ly it’s one of our favourite genres for mixing hu­mour, pathos, social commentary and satire. This film by Kundan Shah also has in its cast the one and only Naseeruddin Shah.

Maqbool: The first drama on the list and also the first gangster film. In the gangster genre, we are al­so big fans of Gomorrah by Matteo Garrone. But, Maqbool by Vishal Bharadwaj is a quintessentially ‘desi’ film and does an amazing balance between being art house and mainstream. Very few films can achieve that; i.e. be true to a desi aesthetic and still depart from mainstream ‘Bollywood’ content.

Amadeus: Another drama and an adaptation of a play by Peter Schaffer, the film was directed by Mi­los Forman. We hope to do a film about courtly in­trigue and musical rivalry some day and achieve a quarter of what this film does so successfully.

Farewell My Concubine: Another epic tale, Fare­well My Concubine is a Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige. An epic tale about an opera company and its two main stars set against the backdrop of 50 years of Chinese history. This is so beautiful, poignant and wonderfully balanced in being an allegory and also a deeply personal tale.

Maula Jatt: Written by Nasir Adeeb, directed by Yunus Malik and produced by Sarwar Bhatti, this all-time Pakistani classic is not only a favourite, but a bit of an obsession. We have personally in­terviewed every living cast and crew member of this film. It is not just a film with exceptionally bril­liant dialogues, but also quite a coup against the censors under the military regime of General Zia.

Aurat Raaj: Possibly one of the most subversive films of South Asia, Rangeela’s Aurat Raj uses slap­stick comedy to make a very strong anti-patriarchy statement. We have made another inter-textual reference to this film in 7 Din Mohabbat In.

7 Din Mohabbat In: Our second feature is a mix of fantasy, coming of age and romantic comedy. It’s a fun, quirky, masala film, but with a very sim­ple message about masculinity. The film has ro­bust performances, beautiful music and a narra­tive that doesn’t let go of you for a single second. Releasing on Eid, June 15 in a cinema near you!

• Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi have directed 7 Din Mohabbat In, which stars Mahira Khan, Sheheryar Munawar and Javed Sheikh. The film releases in cinemas on June 15.