I met Arunbhai when I was working for producer Pranlal Mehta. We hit it off with each other immediately due to our passion for films and our love for the Kathiavadi language!

During the making of the film Jawani Zindabad, Arunbhai would regularly visit Pranlal Mehta’s office. After all the work related discussions, we both chatted for long and our chats would continue till I saw him off at the gate of the office building! He would share so many stories of his and his father Vijay Bhatt’s filmmaking journey. I was very inspired by him.

Once it so happened that I had written a script of a film that I wanted to direct in Gujarati. I wanted Arunbhai to whet it before I went any further. A very senior Gujarati actor had come for a script reading as I was planning to cast him for the film. When he came to know that I was waiting for Arunbhai he was surprised and told me not to make a mistake of sharing the script with another director as there was a chance that his script could be stolen. To that, I had a good laugh and told the senior actor that I trusted Arunbhai and his judgement more than I trusted myself.

Arunbhai really liked the script and it was made into the film “Raj Ratan” later. The film did very well commercially. Arunbhai was very encouraging when he told me that I had made a very good film. In fact he even rooted for my film during the state awards where he was appointed as one of the judges. 

Arunbhai and I spent many memorable times together and to the present day I cherish them in my heart.