(A shorter version of this
interview by Anna MM Vetticad appeared in the February 2014 issue of Maxim
magazine)
HEADLINE: “Living in a society
in a certain routine, is often a role you impose upon yourself”
What is it about love and the road that repeatedly draws director
Imtiaz Ali? Would one of the country’s most successful creators of romances
ever consider making a film about a same-sex couple? And why does he consider
rom-coms “artificial” and “chocolatey”? The answers are all in this exclusive
interview with the man who gave us Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal.
By Anna M.M.
Vetticad
Jab We Met
and your latest film Highway are both
road movies. What is it about the road that you find so appealing?
What I find appealing about
the road is that when you’re travelling, not only is it entertaining because you
see new places, but you discover things about yourself that you did not know
before. Anyone on a journey becomes a more interesting person to themselves.
In
what ways have you become more interesting to yourself when you have been on
the road?
I used to get this feeling
that sitting on the window seat of a railway train is like watching television,
with new things constantly going on. So much of the time you wander away. I
used to get this feeling that I’ve wandered away outside the train, into the
forest, and become a different person. New thoughts would come. I would have
different views. I’d have this feeling that that is who I really am. I would
feel like a different person.
But
often when we return home after a journey, we describe it as coming back to
reality, coming back to the real world. So then could it be that what we
discover about ourselves on a journey is an illusion? Are you sure that is the
real us?
I often feel that living in a
society in a certain routine, in a set pattern of behaviour, is often a role
that you impose upon yourself. While playing that role you become that role. You
become that guy in office who behaves in a certain way, that guy who lives in a
house, in a society, in a colony. You become that person. But when you are out
and there is no reference of who you are, no one to remind you of who you are,
and you can be anything, in that situation it’s actually easier to be what
you’re really meant to be.
What
does the romance genre mean to you?
I don’t understand the word “genre”.
I don’t even know how to pronounce it. It means nothing to me, and I don’t
bother about it. I’m not scholarly as far as cinema is concerned. I’ve not
studied much. I’ve not paid attention to categories. I’ve not wanted to make
movies that are of any type. I just work on any thought that grabs me, and that’s
the movie that comes out. It is later that a genre can be set upon it.
How
then has it come about that all your films have been romances?
That’s a pre-disposition. The
kind of stories that have appealed to me are stories about a man and a woman having
some sort of a thing together. It’s not as though I do it deliberately.
And
why are you pre-disposed to romances?
No idea. I don’t necessarily
like watching romantic films. I just like good stories. I don’t even like soft
romantic comedies. I’d rather watch an action or horror film. There’s a certain
chocolateyness, an artificialness to rom-coms that I find boring.
Are
there any romances you have liked that didn’t seem artificial to you?
Many. What rom-coms do is that
they have certain set visuals and costume design, a certain foppishness with
which they show people, that I don’t like. The romantic films I like, such as Dr Zhivago or Wong Kar Wai’s Chunking Express, are romantic yet real.
They are not only occupied with feelings of love but also with other practicalities
or situations in life, which then allows me to enjoy the feelings the lead
couple have for each other.
Chungking Express
and Dr Zhivago are great films but isn’t
it also true that what you are calling real is very melodramatic?
Real life can be far more extraordinary,
unusual and unreal than what happens in movies like Dr Zhivago and Chungking
Express. And of course a filmmaker or storywriter will pick up a story which
is extraordinary, not the usual thing.
Any
Indian romances that you found real and believable?
Shyam Benegal’s Junoon is symbolic of my taste in romantic films. I really enjoyed the
feeling that they have for each other, but it’s in the real world.
You
said that as a filmmaker you tend to think in terms of boy-girl love stories.
Would you be open to making boy-boy or girl-girl romances?
Ya sure, why not? I don’t
really know that much about it so such stories may not come naturally to me
right now, but if I had such a story, I’ll be very happy.
You
think the Hindi film industry and the Indian audience are at a stage where they
could accept such a story from someone like you, considering that you are not
seen as an art-house filmmaker, but as a middle-of-the-road kind of guy?
If it is sensitive, real and enjoyable,
if I have a good story, for sure I think they will. You know there’s no such
thing as a time for anything new. You’ve got to first do it and then figure it
out. People are always going to be ready for it if it’s good.
A
lot of gay rights activists feel that Hindi cinema has always mocked and
stereotyped homosexual people and never shown gay people as regular people. Is
that a fair criticism?
I agree with them. But keep in
mind that cinema and communication are progressing in our country. There was a
time when Sikhs were only shown as truck drivers, but today they are also
mainline heroes in commercial Hindi films like Singh Is Kinng or my own Love
Aaj Kal. So the earlier cliché used to be that homosexual people were effeminate,
male and behaving like a eunuch. But people are beginning to understand. It
only takes one film. Anyway, the movie has to be interesting. We always put it
on the people. Will they accept it or not? Arrey, people will accept a film
that’s entertaining first.
You
mentioned that you tend to draw on your personal experiences while making a
film but does that necessarily mean that your films all have autobiographical
elements in them?
Not strictly autobiographical,
but there are extensions of thoughts, certain events and personality traits, a sort
of an umbilical chord.
For
instance?
When I was younger I used to
always think that I wouldn’t be able to make it because I don’t have a tragic
life. You found that in the hero of Rockstar.
In Jab We Met what is
autobiographical is when Geet says, “Ratlam, train se dekha karti thhi yeh gali, yeh ghar. Mujhe lagta thha, pata nahin how will it be to be here. (I
used to see Ratlam from the train and wonder how these houses, these streets
will be. I used to wonder how it will be to be here.) But today I’m walking on
this lane. Wow man!” That kind of thing of looking at something, imagining it
and having the fascination of going there some day. Geet also says, “Mujhe yeh sapne aate thhey ki train miss ho
jayegi (I used to dream that I would miss my train).” I used to have that.
It was a recurring dream that went away after I made Jab We Met.
Because
all your films have a love story at their core, do people you meet socially ask
you for relationship advice?
They do. But I never kid
myself that I have solutions to offer them. I tell them very clearly that
although we can talk, they shouldn’t expect that I will know any better than
they would.
What’s
the kind of thing people ask you?
People whose lives have
something in common with my films will always begin their conversations with that.
For instance, a lot of people told me that they had broken up with a girlfriend,
but after two years, after watching Love Aaj
Kal, they got back with her. Lots of such couples came to meet me and said,
“It’s only because of that film that we’re back together now. What is it that
we can do to avoid any problem in the future?” I would always say that I don’t
know. After watching Rockstar it was,
“I don’t know what to think of this guy. He’s not pleasant with me but I don’t
think he can get me out of his system and neither can I, so do you think I should
fall prey to this kind of desire?” You know that kind of thing. But I’ve never
offered any advice because there is a certain responsibility and I can’t misuse
this position. If I tell some poor kid some shit just to feel better about
myself, they can get into trouble.
Who
approaches you more for love advice? Men or women?
More women.
Why
do you think that is?
I don’t know. I think men feel
hesitant in asking someone who’s also their age. And women are much more
comfortable talking about a love or relationship issue than men are.
But
how about some advice for Maxim
readers in the month of Valentine’s Day? Is there such a thing as the ideal
kind of film a guy could take a girl for on a date?
A horror film. For obvious
reasons. When you’re watching the film, if she gets scared she’ll hug you. Even
after the film the shadows will be creeping up, so she’ll feel protected
sticking to you. It’s a good start.
But
if she knows already that that’s a trick, then it had better be a damn good
horror film for that ploy to work, otherwise she’ll be so self-conscious.
Ya ya, but even if she knows
about it, as long as she’s getting scared she doesn’t have any option but to do
that.
But
what about a romance? Does it make sense too?
Ya, that’s a girl thought. A
girl would take a guy to a really intense romantic film on the theme of being
together and all of that, then she will get him to feel that way and look at
her that way. But the guy is not looking for that kind of thing, especially at
the age at which they’re going for dates. (pauses)
That’s not true. I’m generalising, but there is that kind of an impression perhaps
falsely in society that men are looking physically and women are looking emotionally.
I must qualify this by saying this is a myth but generally it’s believed to be
true.
Do
you find women more romantically inclined towards you as a person because you
make romantic films?
(Pauses) I’m not so clear about that. That could be true. (Pauses) You know what, women have this
feeling that this guy at least understands. Ya. Could be, yes. I’m not sure
about that.
Footnote:
I conducted this interview with Imtiaz Ali in January 2014, precisely 22 months
before the release of Tamasha which is in theatres just this week. A shorter
version was published in Maxim magazine’s Valentine’s Day special in February
2014, which was the same month in which his film Highway (starring Alia Bhatt
and Randeep Hooda) was released. I happened to revisit the conversation after
writing my review of Tamasha this week and realised that he was perhaps
thinking aloud about Ved back then when he responded to my question: Could it
be that what we discover about ourselves on a journey is an illusion? I wonder
if he was working on Tamasha’s script back then, or it was already done, or it
was just an idea in his head. Either way, that’s a question to ask in my next
interview.
Related link (Tamasha review):
Photographs
courtesy:
Note: These photographs were
not published in Maxim
