Unplugged

I am pretty certain that if the music was exactly what is expected of a Rock album,it would not have appealed to the huge number of people that it did. The music has done better than the music of any of my films

One of the most devastating criticism came from a distant aunt of mine in Jamshedpur who told another aunt,Imtiaz ki picture dekhne gaye aur kya bataaein,ek hazaar rupaiya pani me mil gaya!

Director Imtiaz Ali is just four films old but what differentiates him from contemporaries is that already,a lore has begun to form around him.

Nobody can tell a relationship story quite like Imtiaz. Or

Imtiaz is marvellous with female characters.

And so on and so forth. Given his reputation and a record of two successful films (Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal) to boot,one could be forgiven for expecting a flawless film from Ali at all times. However,his most recent film Rockstar,though it earned its lead actor Ranbir Kapoor rave reviews and even mopped up a healthy collection,left several unimpressed. The mixed reactions a euphemism for a film that is thumbed down by critics but earns its keep that greeted Rockstar came as a surprise for all concerned.

In a freewheeling conversation,the director takes our questions and criticism on the chin. Excerpts.

After the dust and the criticism has settled what,according to you,has worked for the film and what hasnt?

What has worked is the approach that we will not trick the audience. After being in the business for a certain number of years,you know what to write to elicit a certain reactionhow to get the audience to laugh or get an applause. As much as possible we tried not to do that in this film. Strangely,that has worked and that has also not worked because even a comment like,I really liked it the second time around, is significant in that the movie is not expressing itself completely the first time. With Rahman who,even on a blank screen,can make people emotional,it would have been very easy to manipulate reactions but I am happy that we didnt play those tricks because they are biodegradable. They fall off.

Besides,this movie had its own character. It has gone deeper than higher. It wanted to do what it wanted to do. I got that feeling even when I was trying to make it five years ago before Jab We Metit just didnt happen. Now I get this serendipitous feeling that things had to happen this way,that I had to meet Ranbir and all the people I did. I am very happy with the way things have gone. Any movie needs to recover its money,otherwise it doesnt support the industry. A lot of people regardless of whether they have liked or disliked the film,have engaged with the film,debated and discussed it. A lot of people who have not liked it have also seen it twice. People are talking a lot and writing a lot about it,which is great.

In hindsight,did the films title Rockstar mislead the audience to think it was about a musicians life when actually it was a sort of modern version of Heer Ranjha?

Yes,it communicated differently to a lot of people. I intended Rockstar to be a working title when I started. The term has a certain yuppiness,certain wannabe-ness about it,which perhaps the movie did not have. But it stuck. I was even telling Rahman sir that its a working title and he said I should keep it. I also felt that we could associate the title with the wannabe-ness of Janardans character so we let it pass. I dont grudge that now. I feel that a movie takes time to really show itself. We are somehow myopic in terms of our economic arrangement so we only look at the first weekend or first week of theatrical run but I am happy with the title.

I know people have said This is not what we expected. If they didnt like it because they expected otherwise,they will probably like it after a while. A lot of people who went expecting Jab We Met or Love Aaj Kal and therefore didnt like it,would get the movie a little later.

For a movie titled Rockstar wherein the protagonist is a musician,did the music make the grade?

n I am pretty certain that if the music was exactly what is expected of a Rock album,it would not have appealed to the huge number of people that it did. The music has done better than the music of any of my films Love Aaj Kal did better than Jab We Met in terms of music,in terms of units they sold and downloads and Rockstar has bettered that. I am making promos for Aur ho and Sheher mein as we speak and this has never happened. I couldnt even imagine that before the release of any of my film we could do a concert for the music of only that movie. There is no debate that the music per se has done well. Yes,I did meet a gentleman in the loo recently at Jodhpur who said,Aapke woh pehle jaisi baat nahin hai music mein.

And now for the charges of being repetitivewhy do your films always have a woman who gets hitched to the wrong guy before recognising and going back to her paramour?

I dont come from a broken family so it is not biographical at all. I am sure it is reflective of my mind as also what I have seen in my life. Maybe I am confused. But yes I feel that definitions of this world,this life and relationships have changed as I have continued to live and experience more stuff and maybe that gets reflected in the films I make. I am not trained as a filmmaker. I have not assisted anyone so life becomes a fodder for me. I have tried to move away from it but the process is organic so when I try to exclude it,I wonder if I am doing that because it reminds me of Love Aaj Kal or Jab We Met. I wonder,if it is for personal gratification that I want to come across as less repetitive and then I feel the movie is more important than creating a certain kind of repertoire.

Also,if I am repeatedly talking about a few things,it could be because my range is limited. As life changes and I have new things to say,I will.

Of all the love ballads,why pick Heer-Ranjha?

Its not like I set out to make Heer Ranjhait just drifted in. I used to find it very modern because we are talking about a married woman who has some sort of connection with this guy. She kind of becomes sickly over the loss of someone who she covets but can never have,to the extent that her husband cant even have her (though its not that way in the film). Later on,this guy Ranjha becomes a Sufi saint and returns,coincidentally,to the same village where she lives. They come together and later when they are found,taken to the King for justice. The husband wants her back but the King asks the woman to speak her mind.

Heer confesses her feelings and says that she is married but she doesnt love her husband. So the King allows her to go with the man she loves and this is a tale from centuries ago.

So what was the most scathing bit of criticism and most flattering compliment?

One of the most devastating criticism came from a distant aunt of mine in Jamshedpur who told another aunt,Imtiaz ki picture dekhne gaye aur kya bataaein,ek hazaar rupaiya pani me mil gaya!

I know her and I know that she must have half-joked but she must have believed half of what she was saying. I,of course,laughed when I heard that.

The biggest compliment was that a guy I know saw the film thrice,back to back. Another one went something like,This is not a movie to rake in the millions but one that would move a million hearts. A little cheesy,but well put.

Do you really believe that personal angst results in creativity?

I dont endorse it or believe it but I have had that feeling that I am far too ordinary for something extraordinary to happen in my life. You read such stuff on the back of trucks on highwayek tute dil se sangeet nikalta hai and all that jazz. I think everybody goes through that feeling that tragedy gives a person a shine.

What did you have in mind for Heers character and how did Nargis fit in?

In Heer,there is a certain spirit,almost a disturbing realness that I was looking for,but at the same time she had to be an attractive girl without going away from the brief that she had to be a Kashmiri Pandit. I dont know why,but it was very important to me at that time.

We had downloaded a picture of her on the net,put a printout in office and had told everyone that this is the kind of girl that we are looking for. Then one of my assistants went on the net and found out details like the fact that her name was Nargis. The name gave us hope. We somehow got the number and I spoke to her. I then went to Prague for a recce and she was in Copenhagen for some kind of modelling assignment so she took a flight and came to meet me. When I met her,the feeling was so gratifying that I just knew this was it. She was hesitant coming to the hotel to meet me and I knew from her body language that she is not interested in having sex with me…you know,that kind of a vibe which was very endearing. She did not have the body language or the lingo of an Indian girl but she had the heart and soul of Heer,which was important. If you dont have the heart and depth of emotion,I can never explain the situation to you,it will always be artificial. The language,if you can work that hard,can be mastered.

In terms of Heers personality in the film,there are a lot of girls from South Delhi who are like that. Rich,almost entrapped by their beauty but who have the ability to get down and have fun. Especially in Delhi because being an aggressive city,any good-looking girl in Delhi has to do more to protect herself. Most of these hoity-toity girls would have this crazy side wherein theyd be happy to go to Moti cinema and watch a film. That was important in someone who has the heart to connect with a guy like Janardan with whom she has nothing in common.

What about Ranbirs character Jordan or Janardan?

Ranbirs character comes from the fact that a lot of people dont fit in. They cant understand the obvious. They are not street smart. They are stupid,people make fun of them. There are so many people like that. But what if hes a bada janwar who in his own rhythm becomes what he deserves? Its about people like that. When Heer and he kiss,he just knows that they belong together,before that he just didnt know. It also comes from something a senior had said about me long ago when I had appeared for Jamia Milia entrance exam and didnt clear iteveryone thought that I would. He said,Jo Mercedes mein baithne wala aadmi hota hai who auto mein acche se nahin baith paata hai. Somewhere that stayed with me. Jordan is like that. He wont get into a college band but wants to emulate Jim Morrison. He is one of those people who flower late and in a different way.

Janardans character is difficult to comprehend. It is just because of Ranbirs performance that it has reached out to so many people. Otherwise its difficult to understand what his trip is. He is not even saying,I love you.

I do know that people are like this. They dont instantly understand what they are feeling. People talk about other things when something else is more relevant to them. To place this guy Janardan Jakhar in that grid was very risky and I knew it. Actually even the combined commercial strength of Ranbir,Rahman and me was not safe for the budget at which the film was pegged but somehow,it felt as though things could happen. Ayans movie had not released at that time so Ranbir was not that big for distributors to feel that we can make a movie of this cost and recover it. I do admire Eros and Ashtavinayak for investing in this film. I am happy that it happened and that is the way I would like it to be.

Now you are turning producer in addition to directing a film for Sajid Nadiadwala and writing one for Illuminati films…

n My wife is doing the project with UTV and I am involved because of Bosco being the director. I will be some sort of creative whatevermy work will be to add some sort of creative value,bounce off ideas,sit with him on the script,music,the broader decisions. Production is something that I respect,understand it to some extentthat the producer has to do certain things and plays a very defining role in the way the movie turns out just like a music director or cinematographer. He adds a lot of value to the culture in which a film is made but I dont think I have the merit to be one. Secondly direction consumes all my capacities; it doesnt leave scope for me to do anything else.

Besides that theres nothing right now. Cocktail,which I wrote,is being shot with Saif,Deepika and Diana.

As for Sajid,we had spoken before Love Aaj Kal and at that time I had said we would do something after these two films. That time has come but we still have to meet and figure out what has to be done.

priyanka.sinhaexpressindia.com