To him, quality of life is more important than material things. Over an hour-long conversation ahead of his upcoming romantic film Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, he talks to Bombay Times about his beautiful mother, his insightful brother Imtiaz Ali and his dream of re-uniting with his wife and children. Excerpts:
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You have debuted as a director at 39. How did you become a director?
We come from Jamshedpur where there are really no good colleges, so you have to move out after Class XII. Imtiaz had already moved to Delhi and by the time I finished school, he had come to Mumbai and was studying at XIC (Xavier Institute of Communications) and then was working at Zee. My parents were happy to send me as Imtiaz was already here and I did my Eco Honours at St. Xavier's College.
My friend's dad Shridhar Kshirsagar was making this television serial called Khandaan and needed Hindi writers who could translate from English. Since my Hindi was good, he called me to Bangalore for a couple of months while I was still in first year of college. He gave me my first air ticket to go to Bangalore. Prior to that, I had travelled only second class, and many a times even ticketless, from Jamshedpur to Mumbai and back. Invariably, we would be too many boys and just a few girls so even if we got a berth, we would give it to the girls. Ultimately, during the three years that I was in St Xavier's College, I travelled only without a berth.
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We would spread newspapers on the floor and sleep on it. All the chaiwallas in the train had become my friends and knew my taste. Travelling in AC was neither affordable nor considered macho. So you can imagine how I would have felt travelling by air first time, staying in a nice hotel, that too in a city like Bangalore that was considered so cool.
Imtiaz is mentally older than I am, but I am more responsible
Imtiaz had been working as the `1,500 flunkey, who would deliver tapes in Zee TV. He was always in the office 24x7 surviving on his tea and a packet of Bourbon biscuits. But by the time I was in second year of college, he had left and I took up the flunkey job at Zee alongside studying. Post completing my graduation, I took up a job at Cinevista, where I wrote for a detective show and then wrote Sanjivani, after which I started independently producing and directing TV shows. I then joined UTV full-time as creative director for about five years, where I did a gamut of stuff before I left them in 2009 to pursue making my own film. To sustain my family, I needed to keep writing for TV. Imtiaz and I had decided that he would not help me and I thank him for that. Being an elder brother, there is a natural tendency to help, but he had learnt by swimming in the water himself and he allowed me to do that.
When I was doing TV at UTV, Vikas Bahl (Director of Queen) was in the films division and he used to like my writing a lot. He asked me to write a film for him and while that film did not happen, I later wrote Lekar Hum Deewana Dil and the first person I sent it to was Vikas. He loved it and said, 'I think you should direct this film.' Vikas quit UTV and I continued doing TV till I met Dinoo Vijan, whom I knew due to Imtiaz doing Love Aaj Kal. Dinoo loved the script and decided to produce it.
Your relationship with your older brother Imtiaz Ali?
I call him bhaiya. We are best friends and grew up together. He has broken my head twice and I got stitches when we were younger. I would try to hit him back but physically, he would overpower me. He was very popular in Jamshedpur. Our schools were next to each other and in a small town like Jamshedpur, everyone knows everybody. He was good at everything, be it studies, sports, speaking and drama. He was very agile and could jump over the fence at once. He would not practise, but would still walk out with medals in sports. And on top of that, he was good-looking.
In my school, there were girls only in Class XI and XII and even though they were my seniors, they would come to me and be nice to me. And I would feel kicked till one day when I realised that all that attention was because they wanted to be introduced to my brother. I was envious of him. But when he moved to Delhi, I realised the void in my life and really missed him. That is when we became best friends. He is very intelligent, aware and insightful about people. He has always taken himself seriously and that is a good thing as it's a sign of confidence. He is more self-absorbed than I am and unlike him, I am a bit of a fool and a tubelight in a way. But meri tubelight jalti hai ultimately, and woh bhi brightly.
He has always been giving relationship advice to everyone from the time he was 18. There would be his friends queuing outside his house to take his advice and there was this joke that anyone who took advice from him would land up in a broken relationship and yet everyone wanted it. He would tell me also, 'You are a duffer and should do this.' Fortunately, I didn't listen to him. I love him the way he is and we can talk about everything. The only thing I would like to change about him is that at times he can be obstinate and headstrong and he may even regret it later. But that's him. Even though I am most attached to my mother, she is most attached to Imtiaz. She is beautiful and he has got his looks from her.
Why did you choose to make a youth love story?
I vibe with 20-year-olds very well. Even my tastes in life are that of a 20-year-old. For instance, the colour of my car is electric blue, I listen to their kind of music. As against fine dining, I like eating out at canteens, I like using trains abroad and will go everywhere with my backpack. I love sports and whenever I can play, I do that. I feel I am still 20 mentally.
How different are Imtiaz and you?
We both love our kids and our parents. Our parents are conventional but have given us a lot of freedom and encouragement. We are both extremely loyal. He is very grounded. He lives frugally and does not have a fancy car or apartment and is interested only in making films. Imtiaz is sufi and has always done his own thing and is a little aloof. I have always been the most dependable guy in the family who a relative will call if they come to Mumbai. With Imtiaz, either they will not call him or he will find a way to put them on to me. The only thing my mother likes me more for, over Imtiaz, is that she knows I will take her calls and, if busy, return her call immediately. With Imtiaz he may not call her back even in a week and may totally forget about it also. I am much more responsible than him, take fewer risks and feel that I have to work harder than him to achieve the same thing as he has a natural flair and intelligence. I do things slowly but surely. Imtiaz is mentally much older than I am though I have a stronger sense of responsibility.
Which was the toughest part of your journey?
I was 30 when I got married to Atiya Hussain who I have known from Jamshedpur since we were kids. She is an economist and a journalist and for the past one year is working in Geneva with the World Trade Centre where she lives with my two kids Nafisa (7) and Zafar (5) along with her parents who live there. She had to take up this job as, after the film happened, it took a financial toll as you don't really get paid for your first film.
In the last one year, while making this film, I came close to breaking down as after my family left, I once went to the bank and realised that after paying off my EMIs, I was left with only `400 and had no cash to withdraw. I had no idea where I would pay my driver from. I came close to selling my car and actually put it out on sale. I cut down my expenses drastically wherever possible. I saw my kids after 11 months, two months back. On the flight, I was overtaken by the anxiety as to how they would react to me and wondered what if we don't feel connected to each other. I reached there, changed quickly and went to their school that was a five-minute walk. They were playing. Usually, I would spot my child immediately but it took me some time, but I managed to spot Zafar. He came forward, hugged me and spoke to his friends in French and I said, 'Wow.' They didn't come and stick to me though they acknowledged me, but then slowly they kept coming back again and again and finally we had a really amazing time. Atiya may need to work there for another one year, but eventually I am looking forward for them to return to India. A lot depends on how my first film is accepted. It just takes one film to change your life. Inshallah! I hope so.
LISTEN: Songs of Lekar Hum Deewana Dil on Gaana.com
WATCH: Lekar Hum Deewana Dil trailer
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