Mumbai: Imtiaz Ali is flooded with phone calls and congratulatory messages but the director after finishing his meetings for the day, meets us for a candid chat late evening. As we meet him, there is this feeling of contentment on his face, he keeps his phone aside and the director, after the film has released for the first time, talks about how he is over whelmed with the response to his film Tamasha, his take on casting former lovers, about his female fan following and how his daughter gave him inputs for the film.
Now that Tamasha has released, what’s the feeling like? “Feeling is of gratitude, people have reacted very emotionally and personally and I feel very happy about that, and people whom I have not known also have said that it has affected them positively. I received a lot of messages on phone and on facebook. I met a girl yesterday in some sort of a forum where she told me that she left the job after watching the film. Of course there are other people who did not like the film and I welcome that as well, because each film more than anything else means for me to improve my work or understand more about my work and people for whom I am working. The reaction is so overwhelmingly emotional and personal that it’s very gratifying. Better than expected for sure."
He explains what he means by better than expected, “I don’t have numbers when I am making the film, I just have a feeling that people will like the movie or react positively. While I was making this film I knew it was not a safe film to make, I knew there are lots of things over here which are pretty edgy and there are lots of short cuts I could have used which I haven’t used in the film so I was hoping that people enjoy that. Often times I hear that you have dumb down your stories for the audience because they know no better. And I have always felt that’s very discouraging to me because I feel I am an audience and I cannot accept the fact that I have to dumb down for, so I feel gratified."
When asked if casting former lovers helped 'Tamasha', Imtiaz said, “Former lovers I felt had no bearing. A lot of people who are interested in the personal lives of people are not interested in the cinema of those people. If Deepika and Ranbir are standing over here lots of people will come to see them but not necessarily will all of them come to watch the film. Those who want to watch the film, they will watch it. So it’s not that when I announced Deepika and Ranbir are in the film there was a tizz of people wanting to watch. Before the film released it was not predicted to open the size that it has. But the fact that Ranbir and Deepika respect each other as actors and feel a sense of comfort working with each other has really helped. When we are in a space and are doing a scene, what matters for that scene to be good for all times is the excitement that they have to work and the fact that they have known each other in the past in what ever capacity, that helps. And one thing they know about each other is that they share this common intoxication to work or to act.”
When asked if we'll see more ex-lovers reunite in his upcoming projects, he says, “The point that people are lovers or ex-lovers is not a big benefit to me as a director. I have worked with people before who have or had been in a relationship and none of it has really in consequence added anything to the film. Sometimes not in my film but I have seen in other films people who are dating somehow look boring. Like when Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor were acting they were a real life couple and were interesting to look at but that is not the case with all. As an actor you get a chance to get out of your personality. So the thought was never that I wanted to cast Deepika and Ranbir because they are ex-lovers. In fact I had no idea that I will be casting Deepika. I casted them because of the way the role turned out.”
His films show conflicting relationships and they spring up melancholy so to say but being a filmmaker does he also keep in mind the commercial aspects? “I want to make interesting films but I do understand that entertainment is not only laughing in a theatre or just seeing hot saucy scenes in a theatre, I feel that the film has to be entertaining. I do keep in mind a couple of things that are related to the film, anybody who has invested money in the film should get his money back. And people who are coming to watch the film should get something in return,” the director replied.
Would he make that bold move of making a film that he thinks is not commercially viable but something he wants to make, says “I feel commercial is the thought that if there is a certain budget for the film then there should be a recovery larger than that or equal to that. If there is a movie in which I feel I will be spending money more than the hope of recovery I will not make that film. I feel that film is not only a medium for me to enjoy, it’s the most expensive way to tell a story and it needs to reach large number of people. If there is something in the film that will not reach large number of people I will not make the film, I will probably write it as a novel or as a play, make something else but not really make cinema out of it.
After successfully experimenting with issues like Stockholm syndrome, what’s next, “I feel like making something meaningless. There should be a story that is free flowing and bereft of any meaning, lets see how I go there. Just fun and not laden with any thought.”
What makes him go back to Ranbir and he questions, “Have you seen the film? If I ask you this question, who would you cast in this film? I had no choice but to work with Ranbir. Because I needed somebody who could be Devanand, who could be Don and then completely ordinary and boring in some sequences. Look bad and unattractive and still hold somehow the interest of the audience and the story. Later on go through with those very very fragile scenes in front of the mirror and tell this long story to his dad which would serve as the climax. Such different things to play and such passionate things with Tara. I really had no choice but to work with Ranbir.”
Talking about Ranbir, last two films didn’t do well at the box office, when asked what made Imtiaz trust him? "Who else, I mean the talent. It’s no secret that he is the actor that he is. He also is the kind of person who has the love of the audience. They have seen his films not doing well but they like to see him. I feel that film is permanent but fame and popularity is very transient, it comes and goes but film remains forever. The film has to be good and the actor has to be good in that film. 10 years later, no body will even remember the phase Ranbir was in. When we were doing Jab We Met that time Shahid and Kareena were not at their best, lots of their films have done badly before and they were going through the low but today nobody will say that I should have cast any other actor but them. I mean other actors that were doing much better then Kareena, if I asked you today whether I should have cast anyone other than Shahid and Kareena, you would reply with a big no. It really depends upon the film. The film has such a long life. I don’t really believe in immediate market value of an actor. I believe in actors capability in the suitability to the character, it never crossed my mind and of course Bombay Velvet was released when most of the shooting of Tamasha got over. There was no question in anybody’s mind that even if they were to be."
Did the report of the film having low buzz worried him, and he calmly says, “I was hearing that from a lot of people and mostly during interviews but then I luckily didn’t have time to think too much about it since there was still lots of work to be done. It was a busy phase for a director so I was concentrating on doing that and I knew that Ranbir was not in the country and Deepika was also busy shooting Bajirao at that time. Film's promotions were yet to start. People were in the know of us but we actually had not started inviting people to watch the film. The moment we started doing that, we promoted for 18 days, as typically it happens, after 7 days of promotion we started picking up. Also because before that Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, which was a big film, media however is vast and has a certain infrastructure, which was occupied by that film. So once it was released, platforms became available for us to shout our film out, that’s why it picked up."
When I interviewed Deepika and Ranbir they spoke about your female fan following and Deepika said if someone is a flirt he (Imtiaz) is, your take on this, (smiles and interrupts) “You’re a girl. Do you feel I am flirting with you? Not yet, no? So then she is wrong, right? Don’t believe in hearsay, we are friends we pull each other’s leg. Because I was not in the interview they went ahead and said what they had to (chuckles). No I don’t know whether I am a flirt or not. I have nothing to say and you better have your own analysis. I think women are smart to pick these things up. I wish that I were more successful in charming girls than I’ve been in my life. If it were true then I wouldn’t be how I am right now."
But director does have a huge army of female fans, to which he flushes and says, “More power to them and may their tribe increase.”
Talking about his daughter Ida and her interest, he shares, “She’s too young, she’s in school. She is interested in watching good films and is interested in stories. We talk about a lot of stories. She has her own stories to tell. In fact, I’d like to say and I have not really said this out aloud before but she really was my bouncing board for this film. Specially towards the beginning, all the stories and world of stories that the kid goes to by I have bounced that off a lot and she has given some ideas. She has given some ideas, approved and rejected some ideas of mine. I have really gone ahead with her sensibility a lot in this film. Of course there were so many other parts of the movie that she is not old enough to discuss with, which is the more fragile parts of relationship between Ved and Tara. But the other parts she has really helped me out with. I am not pushing her in anyway; she loves playing basketball at the moment. I do see that she is interested in stories but I don’t know where that’s going to go. The world is open and the choice is hers. I will encourage her in whichever way she wants to go."
As we are about to sign off, Imtiaz maintaining the calmness and smile he had at the start of the interview, answers the last two questions. When asked about the actress whom he has not worked with till now and wants to, he says, “I can’t say one, actually depends on what I am making, Kangana is very talented so is Priyanka, they all are so talented.
“I will still be making films, that’s how boring it is. My plan is not to turn producer really. But I am also looking at the best structure to work with, the job of a producer doesn’t really excite me. I want to only direct but sometimes like in Highway you’ve got to take the ownership as well in order for the film to be a certain type. If there’s a story of mine which I think for some reason I will not be directing, I will produce,” he says about how he sees himself five years down the line and his plan to turn producer. 
