Imtiaz Ali (Director)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Imtiaz Ali

• Does Imtiaz Ali smoke:? Yes

• Does Imtiaz Ali drink alcohol:? Yes

• He was born in Jamshedpur and brought up in Patna and Jamshedpur.

  

• His father was an employee of the Irrigation Department.

• He often accompanied his father, which gave him a view of the innards of India.

• He is the brother of director Arif Ali, who made his directorial debut with the film- Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (2014).

• During his mid-term schooling, he stayed with his aunt at Krim Mansion in Jamshedpur. The house was attached to a Cinema Hall and he often used to watch films for free. He made the projectionist of the Cinema Hall his friend and used to see him changing the Film-Reels.

• He wasn’t good at studies and failed in the 9th standard. The failure jolted his inner-soul, however, his father encouraged him to work hard and pursue the Civil Services.

• He came to Delhi and attended Hindu College, University of Delhi.

• He also prepared for the Civil Services, however, he developed an interest in Drama and started Ibtida, the dramatics society of the Hindu College.

• After completing his education in Delhi, he moved to Mumbai and did a course in filmmaking from Xavier Institution of Communication.

• He also did a course in advertising and marketing to become a copywriter.

• He was hired by Kunal Kohli as a glorified tape boy with a monthly salary of Rs 1,500 at Zee TV.

• He joined Crest Communications and his job was to feed TV programmers as a writer. He had to sit for 17 hours a day in front of the computer.

• He wrote the script of Socha Na Tha and when he came to know that Sunny Deol was looking for a script to launch his paternal cousin Abhay Deol, he approached Sunny Deol who agreed to work with him.

• He became popular after his second film- Jab We Met (2007), which proved a blockbuster. 

• He has a great bonding with actors Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.

• In 2014, he made a film titled Highway. The film received critical acclaims for its uniqueness. In fact, Highway was his first film, the script of which he had written 20 years before its release. 

• In an interview, he revealed that he is very confused about his personality, which is often reflected in the characters of his movies.

• In April 2020, amid the nationwide lockdown in wake of Corona outbreak, he took to Instagram to share the memory of his first car, a Maruti 800. His Instagram post reads,
  

  “my first car, it’s first highway run – to Goa! yeah, going down memory lane during lockdown ? #HappinessInLockdown… Thanks Tara for looking for the picture.”