This could well find an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. To begin with, it is very rare for both the husband and the wife to be directors in Bollywood. Moreover, it is almost improbable for them to see a film of theirs release within 15 days of each other. Well, this is happening indeed for Jasmine D’Souza and Tony D’Souza as their films ‘One Night Stand’ and ‘Azhar’ are set to arrive on April 29 and May 13 respectively.
“This is a record. Period,” says a Bollywood historian, “This has never happened before at least in Bollywood. Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder are directors but they never had their films arrive so close at the box office. Ashwini Iyer Tiwari is turning director with ‘Nil Battey Sannaata’ but her husband Nitish Tiwari’s film Dangal is many months away. Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao have directed one film each and that’s about it. Mahesh Bhatt hasn’t directed a film for ages now though wife Soni Razdan is making ‘Love Affair’ more than a decade after ‘Nazar’. It is only Tony and Jasmine who are seeing two films in a matter of a fortnight.”
Not that it was planned this way.
“‘Azhar’ was always slated for May 13 arrival. This is the way everyone involved with the film planned out the shooting, post production and marketing schedule. In fact ‘Mirzya’ was earlier announced for the same date but that too moved away. On the other hand, ‘One Night Stand’ has seen a few changes in the release date as Sunny has a series of films in her kitty,” an insider comments.
There were speculations though that ‘One Night Stand’ would be pushed further ahead and actually end up clashing with ‘Azhar’ on May 13, itself. However, none of that is happening and the Sunny Leone starrer is sticking to its April 29 release date.
So how is the real life couple reacting to the record in the making?
“Guess it is providence that hum dono ki filmon ke promo ek saath chal rahe hain and now we are releasing on the same day too. Sometimes Azhar is trending and at other times, ‘One Night Stand’ is keeping social media abuzz. When that happens, Tony and I have a hearty laugh that we are at the top of the world,” says Jasmine in an amused tone.
On the other hand Tony, who is busy wrapping up his film, is all smiles, “Of course, as a family we are looking forward to both the films. It is going to be twin celebrations for us.”
