Mumbai, October 01: How difficult is it to break bread with commoners in the afternoon and court celebrities at a star birthday party at night? Not at all, feels Imtiaz Ali. A train ride from Jamshedpur to the City of Joy, dining at his favourite biryani joint in his alltoo-familiar Kolkata, rushing off to the airport only to reach Mumbai well in time to attend Ranbir Kapoor’s birthday party on Tuesday – it’s all in a day’s work for the director.
As he ambles down the busy stretch in front of New Market, a group of young girls spot Imtiaz in the crowd. Initial disbelief soon gives way to excitement while there is a mad rush to take his photos. As the crowd swells, Imtiaz excuses himself for lunch at his favourite biryani joint. It’s rush hour and not a single table is free. Imtiaz quickly slips into an office room adjacent to the dining hall and suggests that the food be laid on an accountant’s table so that everyone can sit together to have their meal!
“Mujhe jaldi se ek phirni dijiye. I am very hungry,” he requests before settling down for an interview. Ask him how he handles this new-found attention and he says, “It’s true that everyone recognizes me but then, they don’t expect to find me in such places. It’s not a bad thing if people want to be happy clicking photos.” How challenging is it to be anonymous once success thrusts a celebrity tag? “If a person wants to enjoy attention, he will create situations to get it. Ranbir and I recently took an autorickshaw back home after watching a movie because it was difficult to find the car. Depending on what one wants, there are ways of getting both attention and privacy.”
Imtiaz says he is clear about what he wants and even though there were claims of him taking to acting, the director has no such aspirations. “The director of “Antardwand”, Sushil Rajpal, is a friend and had wanted me to act in his next. But I haven’t agreed simply because I’m not here to act,” he insists as someone compliments his hairdo and says how it makes him look like a rockstar. “Do you know that I never comb my hair? I neither use a shampoo nor any conditioner. Didn’t people survive without combs and shampoos in the past?” he asks.
Soon piping hot mutton biryani and pasanda arrive. Imtiaz’s brother, who is supposed to get married in Kashmir soon, will be throwing a reception in Jamshedpur and talks centre around the menu. Considering that he has long moved to Mumbai, has he tried asking his parents to shift base from hometown Jamshedpur to Mumbai? “Oh! they refuse to listen to me. They offer the same argument that it’s pointless for them to shift to Mumbai since I would be busy with my work,” he adds.
There is also a certain charm about living in a small town and Imtiaz understands that though he wishes that Jamshedpur did see more development. “We still don’t have an airport there. The closest would be the one in Ranchi. The road condition is so bad that it takes six hours to reach a distance that can be covered in two hours,” he says. Does he still retain anything about his small-town upbringing? “When I meet an elderly person, I will first touch his feet.City life can be very impersonal. I like to make personal connections,” he says.
His lunch-hour friends also have plenty of questions regarding B’wood. “Kabhie Salmanbhai ko yahan laiye na, Imtiazbhai,” someone puts forth a request. Imtiaz smiles and says, “I don’t know Salman so well.” Then, could a Ranbir visit be organized? Imtiaz nods before speaking about how he too has been a fan. “I used to love Kapil Dev and like any schoolboy, wanted to become a cricketer till I started dreaming of making movies.”
While on movies, is there anything that he has discovered about his “Rockstar” actor – Ranbir – that few others know? “Ranbir is quite a serious person. That’s completely a contrast to the kind of perception people have about him,” he explains.
Talking about perceptions, what’s Imtiaz’s understanding about the global space of Indian cinema? “Earlier the song-and-dance routine in Hindi movies was ridiculed. Not any more. People in Spain learn Bollywood dance these days,” he says. Does he have a take on the recent discussions in Pakistan to ban theatrical releases of Hindi movies? “That’s an internal policy decision. Even when Hindi movies released in theatres, 95 per cent of people still watched the pirated versions. I see no point being vindictive and not screening Pakistani movies in India as a reaction,” he says.
Lunch over, it’s time to rush to the airport. While he leaves with packets full of biryani, someone says he must try out kachhi biryani. Imtiaz pauses for a second, smiles back and says he’d love to leave something for another day.
–Agencies–