Imtiaz Ali wants to create a legacy than be part of a rat race

When youve said almost everything about love in your last eight films is it difficult to find uniqueness in a conceptI dont approach a story based on the concept of love I love the idea of telling stories about men women and their relationships People are unique and that makes it interesting for meI dont start thinking that I am making alove story I have a lifelong interaction with my movies and choose to showcase the experiences well that keep the audience entertained for three hours I am a greedy filmmaker hunting for stories to satiate my greed I dont uphold the genres I am said to be known forBut ultimately they are all love storiesI dont deny that they are because thats what they are categorised as eventually However these categories are defined by people The audience finds what they are looking for and what is missing from their lives in my movies Filmmakers are categorised by their abilities If my films explore the relationship between a man and woman someone elses beat revolves around a mans relationship with guns When Yashji Chopra started making films he introduced the concept of the angry man with Waqt 1965 In the latter half of his career he made movies like Dil Toh Pagal Hai and was hailed as King of Romance Who knows what I will be known for smilesImitaz Ali on the set of Highway with Alia Bhatt and Randeep HoodaWhat about Laila Majnus story compelled you to write itThere is divinity and an eternal quality in stories that never end To understand that is essential in improving my craft I was reading an anthology on great love stories and my focus was on Heer Ranjha especially because I was making 2011 at the time LailaMajnu has a philosophical stature like Sufi saints which hooked me I wrote about 35 scenes and 10 years later people who read it thought it could be made into a filmIs it easy to part with a script that you have writtenI never intended to direct this Usually I write scripts with the intention of directing it otherwise I hate writing But once a story is given away like Cocktail 2012 and Ahista Ahista 2006 I let go I make no bones about the treatment of a story once Ive handed it over to someone else I dont grudge Homi Adajania for Cocktail once it is someone elses baby it is easyAre you critical of the films they makeI am critical but only as much as I am of my own work I am aware of the mistakes in Cocktail that happened because of me as well Work in this industry is collaborative at any time over 150 people are involved in making a film An Imtiaz Ali film is a product of many people movies are never a oneman show All my films could have been better and I can list scenes which could have been shot differently Its a curse I live with because unlike other industries the work we do here exists for eternitySince you are critical of your own work can you deduce why Jab Harry Met Sejal was panned so brutallyIts difficult to say what it deserved I dont think its a bad movie and wont shoot it down as a mistake I have worked hard on that film like all my other projects I know what went wrong with that film Had I done few things differently it would have turned out better As far as criticism goes people will say things but you have to believe in what you are making and stand by it Ive got contrasting views on Tamasha 2015 Some hailed as a masterpiece and some called it boring as sh on the same day They will always try to convince you that their feeling is the universal truthWhen you move forward from a commercially unsuccessful film are you cautious about your nextThere are no guidelines on what would work and what wouldnt I am a clean slate when I sit down to write Stories last a lifetime box office calculations are transient I dont operate from a mindset that movies are made for cashing out I dont know what Sholay 1975 or Andaz Apna Apna 1994 earned but I want to give the audience what these movies gave me I am creating a legacyHave you managed to create a trademark legacyI havent made a legacy but I am in the process of creating and producing what I wish to I believe in the power of movies Market respects talent and creativity but creativity doesnt necessarily have to respect the market Making something like Baahubali is beyond my purviewDo you have a favourite in your filmographyI can pick a thousand reasons why none of my films are my favourites But as passionate experiences Id pick Highway 2014 and RockstarWhat is next in the pipelineI am writing four stories will figure out what I want to make next at a later stage I will be producing these and hence wont be under pressure to stick to time frames I have had these stories for a long time and each film will have its own destiny Right now I am in the hatching period I cant be compelled to be part of the industrys rat raceAlso ReadImtiaz Ali I never considered having a different title for Laila MajnuCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates