Pradeep Sarkar ready with his labour of love

The controversies surrounding Laga Chunari Mein Daag started way back in Benares where the film's leading lady Rani Mukherjee had an altercation with the local media during one of the film's early schedules.

Then came those persistent rumours of a cold war between Rani and Jaya Bachchan, who are believed to have fallen out of favour with each other after Abhishek's marriage to Aishwarya. The film's director, Pradeep Sarkar, dismisses these stories as false and baseless, insisting his shoot was a breeze.

“I myself don't know how these stories have come up so many times. You just have to see the making to find out what was happening on the sets. It was simply madness,” Sarkar said.

Far from giving each other the cold shoulder while working together, Sarkar said his three leading ladies – Rani, Jaya and Konkona Sensharma – got along like a house on fire, bonding mostly over their love for Bengali food.

Ask him to pick his favourite of the three, and he's stumped. Like the diplomat that he is, he finds something nice to say about each one of them.

“I would just look at Jayadi and say that you are so good in the film that you are like the Jayadi of the past,” Sarkar said.

While for Konkona he said, “She is never acting. She is constantly reacting to a scene, so with her you can't simply call it acting.”

And for “Rani it is beyond just a profession. She holds on to a role with passion,” Sarkar said.

Sarkar’s passion for his film, the story he wants to tell, and the actors who are realising his dream will all be put to test on Friday when the film opens at cinemas across the country.