Love begets love… but it’s a rare love story which becomes a point of conversation. As Ruchir Arun’s Musafir Café becomes host to many emotions, what has truly worked in favour of the Netflix series, according to the National Award-winning director is, ‘It’s everydayness.’What made him turn to a love story? “Even I was missing the kind of love stories we saw in 1990s and early 2000s, like Mani Ratnam’s films or Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. These films were about people who were, want of a better word, green flags.” So, when he read the screenplay. he thought, “Who is writing characters like Sudha, Chandra and Preeti and I was immediately taken in.” Today, he is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love.But more than appreciation, what has truly gladdened Ruchir’s heart is how Divya Prakash Dubey’s Hindi novel on which the series is based has once again become a bestseller and is selling like hotcakes on Amazon. The book to screen adaptation, which showrunner Sharanya Rajgopal has penned, Ruchir shares, “is certainly not a page-by-page celluloid translation.”Which parts are faithful to the original source, and which take a leap from his and Sharanya’s imagination is for you to fathom. “I can’t reveal much and would rather people read the book and discover it for themselves; what is new and what isn’t,” he says.What he is ready to divulge is how the lead actors have brought in their own experiences/ synergy to the narrative. If Vedika Pinto’s energy fuelled her vibrant Sudha, the emotional depth of Mahima Makwana has defined Preeti’s silences. And what happens when two National Award-winning talents (Vikrant Massey and he) come together? Ruchir does not take laurels too seriously. “Let others discover the merit/demerits of my work, for every new project is a different ballgame and I have to ensure each land as well.”Of course, Ruchir gushes over Vikrant whom he rates as “a very giving actor with no airs.” Besides, Vikrant might be the co-producer of the show, on the sets, says Ruchir, “he was an actor first and foremost.” And yes, the 12th Fail actor, who appears so natural on screen, does prepare assiduously with extensive reading sessions and is instinctive too, precisely why his performance is invariably so effortless.If Musafir Café is best summed up in the show’s most beautiful line — ‘A real traveller not only changes places but also travels within’ — Ruchir also views the series as a story of two relationships with or without the ties of marriage. He says, “Marriage is a beautiful outcome, by-product of being in love. Marriage is as normal as live-in relationship. But we are not trying to make a statement.”As the series states, strangers do leave an indelible impact on our lives and in Ruchir’s case, the stranger in his life is now his wife who has changed him in more ways than one. Interestingly, Ruchir’s cinematic sensibility too has evolved. When he passed out of the FTII, Pune, he wanted to make thrillers and actioners. Instead, he got soft and subtle Little Things and Ghar Waapsi. Next on the table is again a love-story, Nazdeekiyan, from the Dharma Production. Love for Ruchir is being with a person you are most comfortable with and right now he certainly is at home capturing many shades of love.In case, you didn’t get closure with the first season of Musafir Cafe and are wondering aloud if Chandra would ditch Preeti, Ruchir muses, “Zindagi ki gaadi chalti rehati hai, the journey of Chander, Sudha and Preeti too will continue.” Roll on and be a musafir on the heartfelt discovery of love and more. Ruchir sure has a knack of taking you into a love-filled world, at once relatable and sublime.