Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali: Making good films, not sequels, is more important

Franchise films like Stree 2 and Pushpa 2: The Rule emerged as biggest box-office successes, however, Imtiaz Ali feels it’s more important to make a good film.

This year, franchise films like Stree 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Pushpa 2: The Rule emerged as the some of the biggest box-office successes. However, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, who garnered a lot of appreciation for his OTT release, Amar Singh Chamkila, earlier in the year, feels that it’s more important to make a good film.

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali was recently in Lucknow for a LitFest(Deep Saxena/HT)

He says, “Lot of twos have worked this year, and I guess people will get on with making sequels, but I will not make a two! Film acchi hona zaroori hai; chahe woh two ho ya one usse kam farak padta hai. Filmmaking is a one-to-two-years-long process, so I need to have an obsessive interest in the project and not ki woh paise kitne kamayegi.”

Meanwhile, there were recent reports of Ali teaming up with South actor Fahadh Faasil and Triptii Dimri for a movie titled Idiots of Istanbul.

However, the filmmaker clarifies, “Nothing has been finalised yet. I love good actors, and Fahadh is an exceptional actor. As a director, I’m excited to work with him, but the news has come out prematurely. Yes, I have met him, and we are trying to stitch a project together. But, woh kab hoga, kya hoga yeh sab information mere paas bhi nahin hai. Officially, no announcement has been made.”

The director says, “I got introduced to him (Fahad) before Pushpa 2 and after Pushpa. I have not seen either of them but I have seen his other Malayali film and have admired his work.”

So, what’s next? “I am still trying to work out a few stories. I have written three films and will be producing and directing all of them. I can’t say which one will go to the floor first; there is a possibility that another film might start first.”

About the year gone by, he says, “Trade logic does not work on good or bad film, it works on an actor’s last outing and the opening number it can achieve. But, films don’t work on financial logic, they work on emotional logic. So, it was a positive year as we could demonstrate that a good film will work whether it’s a small or a big film. Of course, smartly released film will get a bigger opening. We need to invest in film rather that the financial plan or economic structure of a film release."

Does he regret not releasing Chamkila in cinema? “It’s possible it could have made very good money. We did try that route but that was before we started making the film. We surely wished but were not getting the terms we wanted. We had a good OTT partnership, and I am very happy with the response it got with no regrets at all,” he adds.