For Imtiaz Ali, it was homecoming of sorts. An alumnus of HinduCollege, Imtiaz looked like just another student when he visited the DelhiUniversity campus and interacted with students while promoting his upcoming film Highway.
Greeted with loud cheers and a performance by Ibtida (dramatics society of HinduCollege), the director had a word of wisdom for students of the college, “Always tell your own stories, not those of others. I have a lot of expectation from Hindu.”
And we have a lot of expectations from his film, Highway. The director revealed that the film – despite being a labour of love – had a difficult birth.
“For the longest time, I couldn’t make the film (Highway) as nobody was ready to produce it. Ultimately, I had to produce it myself.”
Be it Socha Na Tha (2005), Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) or Rockstar (2011) “My films are not meant to be a comment on love or the perception of love… these are just stories but they are termed as love stories, and I don’t grudge that,” Imtiaz added.
Discussing the toughest part of shooting Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda-starrer, the director said, “It was coming back to Delhi and shooting with the conveniences of food and other luxuries. We had become a little junglee. Coming back to civilization was tough and that’s something all of us felt. We really enjoyed being in the wild.”
