Imtiaz Ali at a 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 take you to a screen worthy scene on a pleasant morning under the Goa sunshine, in a city that is buzzing with people from all walks of life. An insightful conversation on women’s safety and cinema at the Academy of Arts, Panaji, one of the venues of the 55th International Film Festival of India, ended on a hopeful note. We step into a room alive with the presence of Shekhar Kapur, Khushboo Sundar, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Bhumi Pednekar and others. Outside, in an auditorium with all the markings of a cult, a crowd can be heard faintly singing the anthem of post-modern Hindi cinema romance: “Kaga re kaga re mori, so many requests, please eat the meat slowly.,” From rockstar‘Innocent bird.’ They’re all eagerly awaiting the man sitting next to us: Imtiaz Ali, India’s patron saint of slam poetry.

,(laughing) I don’t know how this image came about because I don’t think I’m a very romantic person. I am interested in poetry and people. I think that’s how it all churns and comes out. I can’t dispute the public’s opinion of me, but at the same time, it’s not like I’m doing anything to deserve it,” he says, his piercing gaze cutting across all obstructions in the room. , Silver locks covering the ears, ready to catch every question.

At the ongoing IFFI 2024, Imtiaz joined Khushboo, Suhasini and Bhumi for a panel discussion, and answered questions from moderator Vani Tripathi Tiku and the audience. As we corner him, navigating a paparazzi frenzy that even superstars rarely find themselves in, he opens up about his evolution since 2011 rockstar by 2024 amar singh brightHis relationship with anger, and much more.

Bhumi Pednekar, Khushboo Sundar, Imtiaz Ali, Suhasini Mani Ratnam and Vani Tripathi Tiku during the first-ever panel discussion on Women’s Safety and Cinema at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

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You were talking about the safety of women on film sets. The concept of an intimacy coordinator – who primarily ensures that personal boundaries and safety are respected while shooting intimate scenes – has found its way into Indian productions. However, this remains an early practice. Do you think an intimacy coordinator should be made mandatory on film sets?

I don’t know whether intimacy directors should be mandated or not. I am the intimacy coordinator of my films and shows. This is even the case with shows that I have not directed, but written and produced. That’s only because I’ve been in theater long enough to know how actors can be vulnerable and feel protected simultaneously – and that’s crucial to a good performance. We do intimate scenes and believe me, it is not only women who feel uncomfortable; I have also seen men feeling uncomfortable.

Speaking of intimacy, I’m often surprised that Indian creators rarely come up with a nuanced, intimate take on romance, like the ‘Normal People’ series. The general feeling is that audiences are bored of romance…

No,I don’t think we’re bored. I think there will be generations of people, young and old, coming along, and falling in love, and providing us with stories to tell. And we will go through our experiences to tell those stories. Any time is a great time for a love story; This is the only kind of movie 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 romance would happen. Nowadays people are meeting on dating apps. I don’t know if it’s very cinematic or maybe the filmmakers just didn’t understand how to translate it cinematically into their stories. If two people are sitting or standing together, I can easily frame them and shoot the scene. But if one person is sitting in Honolulu and the other in Chennai, capturing that romance in cinema is the next step and something new to be learned.

Imtiaz Ali at a 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 excited or worried. What is your relationship with anger? How do you respond to any disturbing news or the many atrocities we see in society?

If there is something in the news or anywhere around me that I don’t like, I will try to understand how this problem can be solved; And what can I do in my small or big capacity as a human being and as a filmmaker to rid the society of this problem. For this I will have to go into the reasons. However, having a biased view and being emotionally charged is not a solution. I have seen this in my life. If I really want to find a solution and make things better, I have to stay calm. That’s why I get angry but I don’t become a slave to anger.

This year you had ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’, which I thought was Imtiaz Ali’s most sophisticated film till date. For example, in ‘Rockstar’, you were a little bit here and there, but in ‘Chamkila’, you had more control over your language and were precise in the way you handled the subject. Can you explain the decisive factors behind this development?

I’m glad you mentioned it. As a filmmaker, I’m trying to improve, learn new things and implement them… and one of those things is to make this script more and more shiny, more and more light and easy. with brightI went back and looked at the script several times. I believe this helped a lot.

But I would also like to say rockstar And bright There were very different tasks. rockstar It was a moody, whimsical film because of the characters. bright He was a very logical man, so in a way the film also became logical because of him.

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 unique titles like ‘She’. As a director, would you like to try a style that is completely different and unique from what you are used to?

yes i. In a way, I’m always trying to do something different from what I’ve done before, whether it’s the nature of the content or the way I make films. I am always looking for such ideas, and now that I have a production house, I am thinking of more. bright This was my first film which is based on someone’s life. So that was kind of different for me. I will go further in this journey; I’m trying to look at different things.

What are you working on next?

There are two films I’m desperately trying to make; They are both very, very interesting. I can’t tell you much about it, except that I’m very excited to start shooting. I’m still writing them and starting to present them.