Rockstar of romance

Whatever you do sir just donrsquot fix the money for your next film before calling merdquo actor Shahid Kapoor told director Imtiaz Ali in 2007 when Jab We Met JWM had opened ldquolukewarmrdquo in theatresItrsquos going to become a big film Shahid suggested to Imtiaz whispering to him then ldquoYou could charge 2X of what yoursquore thinking in lakhs or you know what It could even be a crorerdquoImtiaz was set to do Love Aaj Kal 2009 Negotiations were on He waited it out upon Shahidrsquos advice He says ldquoIt was Dinoo producer Dinesh Vijan who sufferedldquoYou ask him he will never forget this He is like lsquoSir aapne jo number bola the number you quoted my head hit the roofrsquo I said blame ShahidrdquoAnushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan in Jab Harry Met Sejal 2017Shahid had recalled to us on Sit with Hitlist telling Imtiaz not to carry a script with the name Geet working title for JWM given the heroinersquos name on it when shopping around for the heroBut itrsquos actually Shahid Imtiaz remembers now who reminded him about the Jab We Met script in the first place Hersquod heard about it from others while it was being passed around film industry folkShahid had dates available As did costar Kareena Kapoor who was going through the more important sizezero regimen for Tashan 2008 the supposed blockbuster in the making that she explains in detail in another episode of Sit with HitlistBoth said yes and Imtiaz had literally a ldquowindow of 21 daysrdquo to get on shoot while the screenplay wasnrsquot absolutely complete dialogues had yet to be written let alone preproduction for locations to be locked etcThe script that Imtiaz had gone over to Shahid with is the same one that he met Ranbir Kapoor for years later That movie is still to be mademdashabout time we say Ranbir took the said script with him to read but asked Imtiaz about Rockstar 2011 insteadItrsquos the story that once upon a timemdashright after Imtiazrsquos debut Socha Na Tha 2005mdashwas to be made with UTV starring John Abraham in the lead Nothing came of that RockstarRanbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in Corsica for the film Tamasha 2015Ranbir in fact narrated Imtiazrsquos Rockstar story to Imtiaz himself Hersquod heard it at a friendrsquos place a few days from when they met ldquoSir letrsquos make that filmrdquo he proposedHearing Ranbir narrate the script he knew thatrsquos the actor to cast This is post Ranbirrsquos debut ie Sanjay Leela Bhansalirsquos Saawariya 2007 which Imtiaz hadnrsquot watched still The reversenarration was the clincherNow there are wholly savable WordFinaldraft documents and the computer of course ldquoDespite everythingrdquo Imtiaz admits he had lost that scriptHe rewrote Rockstar from memory for Ranbir ldquoThe common thing between Ranbir and and his wife now Alia Bhatt is that I met both at a screeningrdquo Imtiaz recallsAlia did Highway 2014 with him She was not the original choice He had a maturer actor in mind for the role someone perhaps in her 30s ldquoAishwarya Rai without the makeup maybe It was that kinda filmrdquoWhile his core crew wasnrsquot convinced about Alia in Highway he got her over to the office to narrate the film to everyone Done with that the unit was satisfiedItrsquos a hack hersquod learnt from Ranbirrsquos narration of Rockstar He tried it on Alia Two unrelated people ldquowho have a kid together now how filmyrdquo Imtiaz laughsWe remember Alia telling us on Sit with Hitlist about how she seduced Imtiaz into casting her in his film any filmmdashwhen she set her eyes on the director at the screening of Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana 2012Which is not how Imtiaz remembers it ldquoShersquos just sweetrdquoHe handed her a novellalike outline of Highway called her up later to check on what she felt He could tell she was petrified Given that shersquos in every scene of the filmHe went over to meet where dad Mahesh Bhatt was convincing her to go for it ldquoHersquos a nice directorrdquo Alia had said it was simply her dream to work with ImtiazIn fact this profile heavily excerpted is almost wholly around anecdotes that other guests on Sit with Hitlist this conversation series have narrated on Imtiaz himselfThe entirely unedited fun chat on video is uploaded online The other person who inevitably shows up in most conversations to do with Bombay film talents who were similarly newbies in the rsquo90s is Mahesh Bhatt aka semigodman Bhatt SaabImtiaz says ldquoBhatt Saab was the first person to offer me to direct a film He was planning on retiring as a director He had seen an episode of Imtihaan a series I was doing for Star Plus Manoj Bajpayee was in it He called me up one day and asked me to meet at his officerdquoImtiaz went over to Bhatt Saabrsquos workplacemdashfar too packed with people over a majlis listening to warm sermons on life films the works Imtiaz was intimatedFrom across the floor Bhatt Saab shouted out to Imtiaz ldquoIrsquove seen the scenes yoursquove shot loved this didnrsquot like that blah blah blahhellip Yoursquore directing my next film Now go I donrsquot have timerdquoTotally taken aback by what had happened Imtiaz called Bhatt Saab back from the payphone downstairs ldquolsquoSir I didnrsquot understand what you saidrsquo He laughed and asked me to come back the next morning That was a movie to do with two musicians Bhatt Saab was going to write and produce it for Vishesh Films I hope to make it somedayrdquoImtiaz as is widely known was born and raised in Jamshedpur then Bihar now Jharkhand You can see his Jamshedpur in Vikramditya Motwanersquos Udaan 2010 which is not a happenstanceAs Vikramaditya had told us he had got Imtiaz to read the script who asked him to stay over with his family back in his hometown to get a sense of the setting It made sense for Udaan to be placed specifically in the steel township of JamshedpurRockstar 2011 and Jab We Met 2007 remain among the most iconic films of Ranbir Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khanrsquos careersImtiazrsquos younger brother Sajid a school kid then used to show Vikramaditya aroundmdashwho in turn felt Sajid would make for the perfect lead actor for UdaanThe film remained stuck between producers over years By which time Sajid had grown up He debuted as director with the romantic musical Laila Majnu that as we speak six years later has made a rereleasecomeback into theatres vastly outpacing collectionsfootfalls from when it first opened in 2018Vikramaditya and actor Abhay Deol were childhood buddies Which is how Imtiaz and Vikramaditya met Abhay the young Deol in town was looking to enter films ideally with fresher ideastalentsImtiaz who had been working in televisionmdashafter graduating in advertising from Mumbairsquos Xavier Institute of Communicationsmdashwent over to Abhayrsquos place to narrate his scriptAbhay needed a close bouncingboard for a secondopinion He called his friend Vikramaditya over Likewise Imtiaz says he took his friend Anurag Kashyap along for the meetingSuch is how Socha Na Tha 2005 both Imtiaz and Abhayrsquos debut film was born Whether or not right there and then but certainly seeded in the same roomImtiazrsquos career since has largely been marked by strong romantic films but all the more associated with Punjab For the Bombay film industry itself Punjab as the prime muse is hardly a surpriseMost top Bollywood stars and producers have had their ancestral roots in the land of five rivers The nostalgia around whichmdashsarson khet bhangra giddha karva chauthmdashhave inevitably showed up in their popular worksImtiaz though is from Biharmdashhaving also spent seven years of growing up in Patna where his father was posted Not that he has an iota of a Bihari accent Which he says is more because of Jamshedpur which is an altogether cosmopolitan townHersquos sure to switch into a Bihari twang while responding to it In the same way he says among Delhiites can go full lsquoDelhirsquo Thatrsquos where he went to Hindu College to read English literature He can similarly react to the Punjab accentHow come Punjab though He wears a kada alright that was gifted to him when still in school and hersquod visited Punjab on a holiday then But thatrsquos itldquoPunjab began with JWMrdquo he says And has of course continued with his last film Amar Singh Chamkila the most deeply felt insiderrsquos account of the state where both compassion and blood flow always hasChamkila is also the most watched Indian film on NetflixImtiaz had first set JWM in Rajasthan But his feisty female lead character Geet and her words fitted in more with ldquoSikhani girls who I had interacted with a lot in DelhirdquoThe train of JWM hence moved to Punjab instead Namely a smalltown called Nabha The locals thereafter guided him towards achieving authenticity Hersquos since been drawn to ldquothe land of grace mysticism and loveAll the great lovers in India have been from PunjabrdquoWhich isnrsquot to say he hasnrsquot subverted the setting enough or gone with clicheacutes of oldworld Bollywood altogether My favourite instance is him placing a Brazilian model Giselli Monteiro as a lsquokudirsquo from the ancient Punjab pind in Love Aaj Kal 2009Imtiaz was looking to cast Gisellimdashvisiting India on an assignmentmdashas Saif Ali Khanrsquos Latin American girlfriend in the Londonmodern portions of the pic Looking at her his coproducer Preety Ali suggested her for ldquoHarleen Kaur from Brazil for PunjabrdquoHe had similarly picked Nargis Fakhrimdashhalf Czech half Pakistani fully American from Jackson Heights Queens New York City as a pucca Delhiite from Kashmir in RockstarHe spotted her in an ad in a fashion magazine Whether or not that casting convincingly worked out Imtiaz reasons the idea behind it was to find a ldquodil todne ki machine complete heartbreakermdashsomeone so out of the league in terms of looks face body even for RanbirrdquoIn hindsight he does feel he couldrsquove factored in the bit that she was American into the script Nargisrsquos casting was strongly criticised if you recall after the release of RockstarImtiaz defends himself with the same filmrsquos successful rerun in theatres recently ldquoNobody expressed a problem with it nowrdquo Nargisrsquos character Heer is from St Stephenrsquos which is the college across the road from Hindu where Imtiaz wentI reckon if itrsquos his most personal film yet Imtiaz agrees More so for its central questionmdashabout whether success in general let alone the arts was possible without experiencing sufficient turmoil in lifeItrsquos something Imtiaz had grappled with himself He says ldquoDuring interviews for Chamkila I realised even Diljit Dosanjh his lead actor had grappled with the same dilemma lsquoKoi tragedy nahin hai No tragedy how will I become a singerrsquo And then he says so nicely lsquoKoi baat nahin continue karte hain Never mind letrsquos continuersquordquoThe other theme that Imtiaz related to most deeply was ldquoillogical attachmentrdquo with issues that otherwise we have no engagement with but have empathy formdashthe fact of lsquoSadda HaqrsquoldquoEven in my own movies there are moments that move me but I donrsquot know where they come from in terms of a direct source That said the character Jordan is nothing like me The thoughts arerdquoAt Hindu College Imtiaz named and founded Ibtida its dramatics society that runs even today During his time in Delhi he belonged to what he calls the ldquoMandi House jholrdquoMeaning the theatre scene in and around the National School of Drama NSD with independent groups such as Act One headed by NK Singh that he was part ofmdashalong with the likes of Manoj Bajpayee Piyush Mishra Shoojit Sircar Ashish Vidyarthi Gajraj Rao Prashant Narayanan and the lotThese are wellknown names and the list grows big enough to avoid recountingmdashfor the number of creative talents who moved to Bombay around the same time from Delhi to work in the film industryEstablishing a new filmic voice of sortsmdashVishal Bhardwaj also from Hindu Tigmanshu Dhulia from NSD Kashyap from Hansraj College Saurabh Shukla from nextdoor Khalsa the latter two wrote Satya 1988hellipImtiaz 53 says ldquoSomebody must do a study on how that came to be We were all friends or friends of friends often crashing at each otherrsquos homes This was the generation that was both lsquoSholayrsquo and lsquoShyam BenegalrsquordquoDelhirsquos Act One had a ldquosisterconcern with similar valuesrdquo Barry Johnrsquos Theatre Action Group TAG that shared talents on occasionThatrsquos from where emerged Shah Rukh Khan who had dropped out of the mass communications programme at Jamia after a successful stint on television in Delhimdashestablishing himself soon enough as the lsquoKing of Romancersquo in BollywoodImtiaz as a director broke out with the romantic genre as well Surely he wouldrsquove thought of Shah Rukh for his star at some pointldquoNo he was too big never on the anvil For that matter even now I canrsquot think of Amitabh Bachchan Hersquos too big for me Even Mr Bachchan doesnrsquot realise how big he is I have seen people pull out theatre seats because hersquos appeared on the trailer for Geraftaar 1985rdquoShah Rukh and Imtiaz did team up on a romance togethermdashthatrsquos Jab Harry Met Sejal JHMS 2017 Itrsquos a film that Imtiaz says pretty much got triggered from a Facebook comment on Tamasha 2015Possibly his most polarizing picturemdashloved to death by many While some got bored to death as well questioning the realist basis of the male lead Ranbir Which is to be honest really their bad If they didnrsquot get it that is ldquoWell there is something snooty about the appreciation for Tamasha Itrsquos become the club that I never saw myself in I used to think Irsquom a sellout So I just wanted to make an easy accessible film with JHMSrdquo Imtiaz saysIt was the biggest ticket filmmdashgenre star and director perfectly in sync But I donrsquot think he sees it that way Again in hindsight criticisms or boxoffice apart you wonder what he thinks he couldrsquove done differently with JHMSHe says ldquoWith theatre television and films Irsquove worked the same way Written a story and brought it together through actors Which is what I did with JHMSldquoThe fact that Shah Rukh is a humongous star is something I hadnrsquot made a provision for Because in life hersquos such an easy and accessible personmdashhe doesnrsquot give you that impression eitherldquoOf course there are enough good things in the film which get lost when itrsquos not accepted But I could have brought in a flashback a backstory and Shah Rukh as the star couldrsquove been used to the best of his strengthsrdquoGoing back to the Delhi crowd that made the lsquonew Bollywoodrsquo in the rsquo90s as it weremdashwhere Imtiaz seems separate from the mainstreamindie migrant directors that emerged then is foremost with musicHe remains among the few realistic newage filmmakers indulging deeply with romance song picturisations lipsyncing adapting soundtrack as situations into his scripts That is after all an inherited artform syntax and grammarmdashthreatening to die with later talentsAll of it he says comes from growing up in Jamshedpur If yoursquove seen Cinema Paradiso 1988 thatrsquos himmdashyoung boy sitting behind the projectionist switching reels His family owned Jamshedpur Talkies and Karim Talkies two local theatres that he had complete access toHe says ldquoIrsquom inherently drawn to the lsquocinemanessrsquo of cinema The moving melodrama that actually comes with musicmdashto represent mood feelings turns in the story or time transition through montagehellipldquoAnd I found myself so lucky to be in the company of such crazy and kind musicians Sandesh Shandilya AR Rahman who literally opened their doors for me to work with them I find music composition to be the highest art formrdquoIn that respect his strongest collaborator in terms of writing might well be the ldquoshayarrdquo Irshad Kamil from Malerkotla Punjab whose lyric is essentially an extension of dialogues in Imtiazrsquos filmsmdashtheyrsquove worked on each one togetherImtiaz found Irshad through Sandesh They instantly bonded over the common love for poetry ldquoIn this city of Bombay you crave that and when you find a person like that you catch that personrdquoSpeaking of getting caught the most hilarious anecdote Irsquod heard about Imtiaz and Irshad was actually about how they were once caught by the police togetherThis is on Versova beach past midnight Him Sandesh and Irshad lost to the world discussing music for Socha Na ThaldquoThose days if we had to meet at night it had to be outside Homes were small People would be sleeping insiderdquo In comes a cop wondering what these guys were up to on the desolate beachldquoIt was 2 am but itrsquos not like we were up to anything nefarioushellip Irshad said we were making musicrdquo Which is probably the lamest explanationexcuse the beatcop wouldrsquove heard in his life over three men allegedly gallivantingNext thing they know theyrsquove been put inside a police van Further into the police station They were right in the middle of having arrived at a track thoughEach time they regrouped whether in the van or the police station they simply carried on with cracking the idea ldquoWell we knew if we get the song right none of this will matterrdquoThere is a charming stoicism about Imtiaz You can sense it in his company Hersquos also an engaged conversationalist never repeating stuff yoursquove heard him say before Totally in the moment mulling responding detaching yet fully interestedItrsquos probably the same way he handles personal fame I know this from independent sources As in friends whorsquove bumped into him at local barsrestaurants in the past Imtiaz being among the few directors whorsquos so public a faceAs he puts it in another context quoting Buddha ldquoEyes half open half closed Half with yourself half with the world Itrsquos such daydreamers who drift into the film industry Instead of the other way around Itrsquos a boon to make a living out of dreamingrdquoEven while he was looking to make films and surely itrsquos a struggle for everyone he says he was fine the way he was ldquoYou never really make it anyway Manisha Koirala told me once that when she was in Bombay auditioning for films that was her lifeldquoIf nothing ever happened she was still satisfied Only if she felt dissatisfied for any other reason she would have returned done something elserdquoThat said certainly the rigours of film as an industry can get to mostmdashhits flops etc Consider the unusually cold streak that Imtiaz had JHMS onwardsmdashin particular Love Aaj Kal 2020 or even stuff helmed as producer Thai Massage 2022 series such as She 2020 Dr Arora 2022Whatever onersquos personal opinions on those works and those are subjective anywaymdashthey didnrsquot turn out to be popculture moments or at least havenrsquot yetAnd that Chamkila 2024 was effectively the comeback as it were Does he ever feel that hersquos on a rough patch He says ldquoAlways Because yoursquore always engaged with a certain newnext challenge Irsquom only worried about that at any point in timerdquoGoing by the theme of picking moments from Sit with Hitlist when guests have brought him up there is a notsopositive one if you mayldquoBring it on I love negative stuffrdquo Imtiaz smiles Thatrsquos when his lead actor Sara Ali Khan mentioned to us that she hated herself in the new Love Aaj Kal Or at least something to the effectOn the film itself he says ldquoYou know my English teacher Swaroopa Mukherjee told me when she saw Love Aaj Kal that it remined her of her English classesldquoShe said lsquoThere is this strange thing that when you explain things to young people and askmdashhave you understood They say lsquoYes miss Irsquove understood But actually they havenrsquotThey never saymdashno I havenrsquot understood There was something very sensitive in there and the youngsters in the film perhaps didnrsquot get what you were trying to sayrsquordquoHe adds ldquoIrsquom not blaming Sara The point is that direction is a process of working with an actor The actor who has surrendered is not obliged to understand They have said the wordslines I couldnrsquot get through to the actors to own the material in Love Aaj KalrdquoGoing beyond stars itrsquos my turn now to pose to Imtiaz something that has annoyed people at large And thatrsquos do with fans of JWMWhen asked during a recent interview about what he thought might happen to the itcouple Geet and Aditya if the film had a sequel He said they would be at the divorcelawyerrsquos officeOnly fair that I pass on the outrage Imtiaz laughs ldquoThat interview was before a live audience I just thought it was a smart thing to sayrdquoNope not letting go that easy ldquoWell films have to be dramatic Somdashwhat if theyrsquore at a divorcelawyerrsquos office Thatrsquos the question Now if thatrsquos the beginning of the filmmdashthe end will be happy right You start at a crisis and come to a solutionrdquo Well savedFinal question and this has to do with an old print interview of Imtiazrsquos thatrsquos remained in my head since Chiefly because there was no followup to his answer and I kept wondering exactly what he meant when he once said ldquoMarried men are the most ch version of themselvesrdquoMercifully he remembers that decadeold interview He smiles ldquoThere was a context to it Some of which Irsquove forgotten now All that remained was the headlinerdquoGo on ldquoWell marriage in itself is nothing Relationship and vibes are important Anyway I donrsquot believe in bracketing relationships The problem is when people start playing lsquomarriedrsquo The same thing applies to the wifeldquoAnd then you dumb yourself down playing lsquorules of the gamersquo Rather than respect each other for who you are Thatrsquos when you become a bad version of yourselfrdquoOkay explain with an example ldquoThat husband and wife are supposed to do things together Why Letrsquos say I wanna go on a solotrip to Jhumritalaiya or read a book And she wants to go to Switzerland or watch a movieldquoYou would if you were friends so why not But yoursquore married people So what And then resentment sets in You start keeping secrets from the one person yoursquove actually sworn never to keep secrets fromrdquoAptly wersquove ended with precious gyan on love from Imtiaz Outside of films of course ldquoDisclaimer Please donrsquot follow anything I say I know nothingrdquo he signs off