Following his directorial debut with Sushmita Sen and Jackie Shroff in the thriller Samay, Robby Garewal is back with his second film, Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar or 'MP3' as it is popularly known,

This love story stars newcomers Hazel and Ruslaan in the lead.

This ad filmmaker found that casting two fresh faces was just The Challenge he needed. Unlike seasoned professionals, he found them easier to mould because they did not have a set way of doing things. Additionally, they had to look the part.

However, casting turned out to be quite an ordeal. Robby says he had to sit through 8,000 to 9,000 auditions over a course of two to three months in Mumbai, Pune, Banglore and other metros.

"My team scouted cafes and if they found anyone who was fairly good looking and looked the part, they would call them up for audition," the filmmaker recalled, adding, "We even had posters put up at Mumbai's Fame multiplex saying that anyone who is interested in acting in a movie could just walk-in and audition."

After Samay, the director wanted to do something different and drew experiences from his own life.

"It's not just a love story. It's a slice of life at 17. For that, I drew experiences from my life at that stage," he said.

"It's about facing the world and about finding real friendships that last a lifetime," he added.

Garewal, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arshad Sayed and Sameer Kohli, said the film is about the innocence of school romance.

Since it is a young film, the filmmaker decided to use 'MP3' as the shorter form of Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar, claiming it captures the idea of the film.

Hazel, a popular face because of the number of advertisements she has done, shifted from England to India three years ago.

However, the actress was hesitant to audition for MP3. "Those people kept calling and I kept making excuses as I was still taking Hindi lessons," she said. "Plus, I wasn't keen on doing a Hindi movie," she added.

On the other hand, Ruslaan, her co-actor and friend, persuaded her to go for the audition. "We had done the Ponds ad sometime back and he convinced me to go for the audition," she said.

Hazel plays Ayesha, an NRI who comes to Delhi from England with her mother.

Of her role, she says, "Ayesha is a shy girl. She joins a new school and befriends Simi, a confident girl who knows how to behave with guys. Ayesha tries to copy her. She becomes friendly with Rohan (Ruslaan) and they get close. Eventually, they fall in love. She then goes off to Paris for a holiday with her mother and this guy decides to follow her which leads to an adventure of sorts."

Of course, like every hopeful in the film industry, Hazel wants to do commercial roles.

"I'd love to do total glam roles. I'm also a trained dancer and hope to utilise my training in a movie," she said.

She is hoping the film does well. "I avoid expecting too much. However, I'm confident of the film because young people will relate to it. Not many Bollywood movies are made for that age group," she concludes.

MP3 also stars Kanwaljeet Singh, Menekka Arora, Rinku Patel, Manoj Pahwa, Neelu Kohli, Gaurav Gera and will release on June 8.