'Arjun wasn't partying when he was late for shoots, he was attending his grandma's...

There were reports that all was not well between director Mohit Suri and Arjun Kapoor, while they were shooting for Half Girlfriend. Brushing aside the rumours, Mohit said, it is unfair to put these allegations. “It’s not true at all. It’s bad to report such things. I have never had an issue with him. I don’t know why people are saying we had an issue. There were reports that he used to come late on the sets, but he was there for his grandmother’s funeral, he wasn’t partying. He has been honest to the film and I would like to work with him again.”

“It is difficult as you can’t base the entire book in a two-hour film. There is a lot that you need to edit and make sure all the essential points are not lost out. We have changed certain things and Chetan Bhagat has been quite co-operative,” Mohit added.

“I have never made a film that had a story that people already knew. There is definitely pressure to living up to it (response the book got). But I have tried not to let this factor (pressure) affect me and have tried my best to stay honest to the story,” he further said.

It is the story of a rural Bhojpuri-laced Hindi-speaking boy (Arjun Kapoor) from Bihar as he enrols himself at an English-medium college and falls in love with a rich Delhi girl (Shraddha Kapoor) who wants to be his half girlfriend.

“Half Girlfriend is a story about a guy who can’t speak English and despite Hindi being our national language the hypocrisy in India is that those who don’t speak English are looked down upon as people who speak English are forward. It’s an interesting concept. I wanted to show how two people come from different worlds and try to figure out whose world is a right,” the filmmaker said.

Mohit has worked with Shraddha earlier in Aashiqui 2 and Ek Villain but this romantic drama marks his first outing with actor Arjun. “We (referring to him and Shraddha) share a great relationship that has been successful on screen. This is my first film with Arjun and he is very endearing in the film.. it was interesting to work with him.”

Produced by Ekta Kapoor, Half Girlfriend will release on May 19.