Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor shared their experience of working in Luv Ranjan’s upcoming romantic comedy Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar, which marks their first onscreen pairing and stand-up comedian Anubhav Singh Bassi’s Bollywood debut, at the launch of the movie trailer on January 23.

“After watching Pyaar Ka Punchnama, I called up Luv (Ranjan) to tell him that I would love to collaborate with. So we met and discussed ideas,” Ranbir said.

The Brahmastra actor also revealed that Luv Ranjan was supposed to direct Ajay Devgn and he for a film, which, however, failed to materialise.

“Then Luv came to me with the idea of Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. I thought the movie had a lot of love, warmth, family feeling and entertainment. There are very few filmmakers in the industry who can come up with this type of film and that’s why I was very eager to be part of this film,” he said.

Explaining why he hasn’t done a romantic comedy since Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), Ranbir said it was very hard to make films like that. “The idea of romcom is so westernised that we expect to shoot films in Paris and New York, but the essence of a romcom is preserved in its writing. Both Luv and Rahul Mody are excellent writers and that’s why I really liked the Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar screenplay,” he elaborated.

Talking about her experience of portraying a ‘Jhoothi’ girlfriend to Ranbir’s ‘Makkar’ boyfriend, Shraddha said Luv’s direction and Rahul’s guidance on the sets helped her to portray the role. “Both Luv sir and Rahul sir had a set idea of what the characters would be like — it’s very new to me. I hope that my character is also as enjoyable as it was in the trailer.”

“Luv Sir used to keep us on our toes even on the sets. We (Ranbir and Shraddha) used to be so confused all the time because nobody could guess what was a lie and what was the truth,” she said.

On his part, Luv said the pairing of Ranbir and Shraddha would add a lot of value to the romcom because the leading duo hadn’t been paired before. “Old pairings come with a lot of baggage and expectations. When you look to make a new romcom, you look for a fresh pairing. It’s just luck that Ranbir and Shraddha have been around for so long but haven’t been paired together before this.”