Imtiaz Ali, while at the panel discussion on Women’s Safety and Cinema at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Allow me to walk you into a screenworthy scene, on a pleasant morning under the Goan sun, in a town buzzing with people from all walks of life. A perceptive talk on women’s safety and cinema ends on a hopeful note at Panjim’s Kala Academy, one of the venues for the 55th International Film Festival of India. We step into a room enlivened with the presence of Shekhar Kapur, Kushboo Sundar, Suhasini Maniratnam, Bhumi Pednekar, and others. Outside, one can faintly hear a crowd, with all the markings of a cult, at the exit of the auditorium, singing the anthem of post-modern Hindi cinema romance: “Kaaga re kaaga re mori itni araj tose, Chun chun khaaiyo maans,” from Rockstar’s ‘Naadan Parindey.’ They are all eagerly waiting for the man seated next to us: Imtiaz Ali, India’s patron saint of slam poetry.
“(laughs) I don’t know how that image has come about because I don’t think I’m a very romantic person. I’m interested in poetry and people. I think that’s how it all churns around and comes. I can’t dispute a public opinion about me, but at the same time, it’s not as though I have been doing anything to get this,” he says, his piercing gaze slicing through all the pauses in the room, silver locks veiling ears attuned to catch every question.
At the ongoing IFFI 2024, Imtiaz joined Kushboo, Suhasini and Bhumi for a panel discussion, answering questions from moderator Vani Tripathi Tikoo and the audience. As we hold him back on the sidelines, navigating a paparazzi frenzy even superstars seldom get, he opens up on his evolution from 2011’s Rockstar to 2024’s Amar Singh Chamkila, his relationship with anger, and more.
Bhumi Pednekar, Kushboo Sundar, Imtiaz Ali, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, and Vani Tripathi Tikoo during the first-panel discussion on Women’s Safety and Cinema at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), in Goa
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Excerpts:
You were talking about the safety of women on film sets. The concept of an intimacy coordinator — who primarily ensures personal boundaries and safety are respected while shooting intimate scenes — has found its way into Indian productions. However, it remains a nascent practice. Do you think an intimacy coordinator should be mandated on film sets?
I don’t know whether intimacy directors should be mandated. I am the intimacy coordinator for my films and shows. That’s been the case for even the shows I have not directed but written and produced. That’s only because I have been in theatre for long enough to know how actors can be vulnerable and feel protected simultaneously — and that is important for a good performance to come through. We do intimate scenes and believe me, it is not only the women that feel uncomfortable; I have seen men feeling uncomfortable as well.
Speaking of intimacy, I often wonder why Indian creators rarely come up with a nuanced, intimate take on romance, like say, the ‘Normal People’ series. The popular assumption is that the audiences have gotten bored of romance…
No,I don’t think we’ve gotten bored. I think successive generations of young and older people will keep coming, and falling in love, providing us the stories to tell. And we will be going through our own experiences to tell those stories. Any time is a great time for a love story; it is the only type of film that can break any routine. I sometimes think it might be because of how different the world has become. People used to meet in gardens and schools, and then the romances used to happen. Nowadays, people are meeting on dating apps. I don’t know whether that’s very cinematic, or maybe filmmakers have not understood how to translate that into their stories cinematically. If two people are sitting or standing together, I can frame them easily and shoot the scene. But if one person is sitting in Honolulu and the other is in Chennai, capturing that romance in cinema is the next step and something new that has to be learned.
Imtiaz Ali, while at the panel discussion on Women’s Safety and Cinema at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Imtiaz, we have rarely seen you agitated or anxious. What’s your relationship with anger like? How do you process a disturbing piece of news or the many atrocities we witness in society?
If there is something that I don’t like either in the news or anywhere else around me, I’ll try to understand how this problem can be solved; and what I can do, in my small or large capacity as a human and a filmmaker, to rid the society of this problem. For that, I have to go into the causes. However, having a biased point of view and getting emotionally aggravated is not the solution. I have seen that in my life. If I really want to find a solution and make things better, then I have to be calm. So I do feel angry but I don’t become a slave to anger.
You had ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ this year, which I thought was the most refined Imtiaz Ali film yet. In ‘Rockstar,’ for instance, you were a bit here and there, but in ‘Chamkila,’ you had more control over your language and were spot-on with how you handled the subject. Can you reveal the defining factor behind this evolution?
I’m glad you mentioned that. As a filmmaker, I am trying to improve, learn new things and apply them.. And one of those things is to make this script more and more luminous, more and more light and easy. With Chamkila, I went back and looked at the script several times. I believe that helped a lot.
But also, I would like to say that Rockstar and Chamkila were very different works. Rockstar was a moody, whimsical film because of the character. Chamkila was a very rational man, and so in a way, the film also became rational because of that.
Parineeti Chopra as Amarjot Kaur, Diljit Dosanjh as Amar Singh Chamkila in ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’
| Photo Credit:
MUBEEN SIDDIQUI / Netflix
As a producer, you have backed some offbeat titles such as ‘She’. As a director, would you like to attempt a genre that is as wacky and wildly different from what you have done?
Yes, I would. In a way, I am always trying to do something wildly different from what I’ve done before, whether it is the nature of the content or the way I make the film. I’m always looking for such ideas, and now that I have a production house, I’m thinking more and more. Chamkila was the first film of mine that is based on somebody’s life. So that in a way was different for me. I’ll go further in this journey; I’m trying to look at different things.
What are you working on next?
There are two films that I’m desperately trying to make; both of them are very, very interesting. I can’t tell you much more about it, except that I’m very enthusiastic to start shooting. I’m still writing them and starting to pitch them.
Published – November 25, 2024 01:26 pm IST
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