You look like sisters…..
Arsala: Yes, everyone tells us that! But we are friends, very good friends, with a passion for Hindi films.
Sabrina: I would say, films are Arsala’s passion and my desire.

What is The Unforgettable all about?
Sabrina: It’s about Yash, a writer who teaches the world how to live, but loses his life’s teachings when he meets Padma, a woman who he cannot teach anything. It’s a story of an unusual love told through all the ugliness that makes love the greatest emotion.
Arsala: Basically the film depicts the stark contrast in individualistic beliefs interwoven in a web of romance, mystery, travesty and triumph.

Whose story idea was it?
Arsala: The film is based on real-life incidents that happened years ago in both Sabrina’s and my life, and affected us enough to pen it down and make it into a film.

How did you meet?
Sabrina: I am a Bangalore girl but I’ve spent about 20 years in Kuwait because my dad’s business took us there. I came to do my junior college in Bangalore, and that’s where I met Arsala.
Arsala: My dad’s business took us around the world! I have lived in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the USA! But we were destined to meet in Bangalore.

What did you bond over and how did the film come about?
Sabrina: We actually dislike each other at first. But soon our passion for movies and love for food brought us together. But after college we went our own ways.
Arsala: Seven years ago we met again in Mumbai. I asked Sabrina, who was a sportsperson, playing hockey for India, if she wanted to do something different, like making a film. She said “Yes”.

So The Unforgettable is your first attempt at film making?
Sabrina: No, before this we wrote a political satire but we didn’t want to start our career with a comedy. The story idea was given to someone, and the Unforgettable began to take shape.

You said you had a passion for Hindi films, so how come a film in English?
Arsala: We wanted to expand our market in terms of reach. Out strategy was to screen it abroad and after creating the desire buzz, to bring it to India.

What was the response to your film at the Berlin Film Festival?
Arsala: Fabulous! Since it deviated from the kinds of films Indians screen abroad in terms of subject and presentation, The Unforgettable attracted a lot of attention.
Sabrina: Everyone was surprised at its modernistic look, the bold subject and the several bold scenes that the film has. iDreams quickly took over the marketing of our film.
Arsala: I only hope the Censors do not snip the steamy scenes as there is a lot of narrative and the film will lose its effect.

What irked you the most when you set out to make a film?
Arsala: Oh, plenty of things! We never doubted ourselves but it was tough to be taken seriously by others. A top Indian filmmaker told me it was better to burn my money than make a film. But that only instigated me to go ahead with the film.
Sabrina: Also the way people perceived us. Everyone who met us took us to be wannabe actresses trying to make it on the big screen by making a film first! That’s why during our 45 days of shooting in Mauritius and Mumbai, we kept everything low key. We wanted people to talk about our film, rather than about us.

But did you ever think of going in front of the camera?
Sabrina: No!

Looking at the credits of the film it appears you had a mixed team working on your film.
Arsala: Yes, our lead actors Raji and Sophia are from UK , and our crew was Indian. Our director of photography was the celebrated W.B. Rao. He was a big inspiration to us. When he saw us at work, he once mentioned that he could see us getting an Oscar for the film. We couldn’t sleep that night!

How did you divide the work?
Sabrina: From the conception to the execution both of us have worked together on everything. But Arsala has worked a lot more on the script as a writer.

What has been your most memorable, or should we say unforgettable, moment during the making of the film?
Arsala: Every moment be it good or bad is memorable. But after our first shot at the British Council in Mumbai we were both so overwhelmed that the tears would not stop! But we sneaked away so that the all-male crew couldn’t see this womanly side. After all we were heading the show!

What are your future plans?
Arsala: We are scripting an espionage comedy. And it is going to be a typical Bollywood masala film, with top Indian stars.
Sabrina: No one will be able to associate this film with our next project. It will be drastically different.
Arsala: We’re also scripting an international film based on the happenings in Iraq.

What about marriage?
Arsala: We are both very ambitious filmmakers to think of marriage!
Sabrina: Yes, our ambitious nature scares the guys away!
Arsala: Apart from failure, it’s marriage that scares me.