Amir Khusrow is the only person who fascinates me, would love to make a film on him: Imtiaz Ali

Of the many great writers and directors that made it to the Urdu celebration ‘Jashn-e-Rekhta’, Imtiaz Ali is definitely one of the most special ones. Be it for his unexplainable connect to the youth or his varied filmography or that way he carved his own niche in the industry; he sure is a man of substance!

In an exclusive interaction with IBNLive.com, Imtiaz Ali not only revealed his desire to direct a film on Amir Khusrow’s life but also shared his views about the constant battle between maintaining the story's creativity and reaching the target audience through his films.

Known for his off-beat work which is usually different from the ‘masala’ concept of Bollywood, Imtiaz believes that while the main objective of film making is to reach out maximum number of people, one shouldn’t compromise the story’s creativity for it. “You’ve to maintain a balance as per the Sufi principal ‘Deen aur duniya’, dono ko saath mein leke chalna padta hain; sometimes the balance tilts more towards one or the other. The purpose of Indian films is to reach out to maximum number of people and I’m also a follower of that but that doesn’t mean that you should let your weapons rust. You’ve got to constantly push yourself for better.”

While he understands that his last film ‘Tamasha’ created a sort of polarization as per how it was perceived by the audience; he’s still glad to have reached his target group. “The reaction to ‘Tamasha’ was very polarized; and honestly, I’m really happy about the views, because I think I’ve managed to reach out to the audience I really wanted to; the younger ones.

From Geet's character in ‘Jab We Met’ to Ved in ‘Tamasha’; all his characters have their own USPs and quirky qualities. “Art has no option but to reflect life. All my characters are inspired from the people who I meet around. Those are the people who influence my film”, he said.

On being asked about any progressive writer or person he would wish to direct a film on; he instantly came up with Amir Khusrow's name for he’s the only that fascinates him as he wasn't just a poet but a warrior too. “The only person in Indian history that fascinates me is Amir Khusrow and I would definitely like to make a film on him at some point of time. He was mystical. He is single handedly responsible for half of Hindustani music, poetry, Qawaali that we hear today. And the fact that that while he was one of the prolific courts men in Delhi; he would still become a fakhir at the Nizamuddin dargah in the evening. So, he was a warrior and a poet at the same time.”

Expressing his views about the evolution of Urdu language in the film industry, he confessed that according to him there’s no apparent difference in Urdu and Hindi as such. “In my mind there’s no difference between Urdu and Hindi. But yes, the language we speak is going to look artificial if it’s imposed on some body; you can’t show a grammar of the language that does not exist in the reality. But I feel we need to think that Urdu has always been a very a very inclusive language so even if there are slangs in it and there are some things that don’t sound like the Urdu of yesterday; it’s only a mark of progress.”

(Image: Rajesh Advani twitter)