Mahesh Bhatt was the first person to ask me to make a film: Imtiaz Ali | Exclusive

Imtiaz Ali and Mahesh Bhatt

Imtiaz Ali began his career directing TV programs including Kurukshetra for Zee TV and Imtihaan for Doordarshan. He made his filmmaking debut in 2005 with the romantic comedy Socha Na Tha starring Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. However, he was supposed to begin making films with Mahesh Bhatt, but that never materialised.

During Mid-day's Sit With Hitlist conversation, Imtiaz revealed, "Mahesh Bhatt was the first guy who asked me to make a film. I was doing television already. One day I was working with Manoj Bajpayee in a series called Imtihaan (1994). Manoj had mentioned me to Bhatt Saab because they used to meet and he was doing films with them. Bhatt Saab then one day saw some stuff that I had directed. I got a call to go and meet him.

"So, I went to Vishesh Films and there was a room full of people, I took ten minutes to build up the courage to enter that room because there were so many people. Unki poori sabah lagi hui thi, Bhatt Saab ki jaisi hoti hai na… Like a God man he is talking about stuff. He really enjoyed doing that and he was planning to retire as a director.

"I walked in with a lot of difficulty, and he was like, ‘Oh come in, you are Imtiaz? I saw… this scene was good, that scene was not so good… blah-blah-blah… you are directing my next film… Now you can go because I have no time for you. I backed out, I turned and went down and I went to this PCO, put in a coin and called. I said, ‘Hello, excuse me, this is Imtiaz, Bhatt Saab I didn't understand what you said'."

"It took me time to understand that I haven't understood what this man said. So, I went down and called him. He said, ‘Ha ha ha bete, aise hi hota hai. Now you come tomorrow morning at so-and-so place and we will talk. Then we started talking and we were going to make a film together. It was a story of two musicians, I put it into music. Vishesh Films was going to produce that. But it didn't get made."

"Ultimately something else happened and I made films elsewhere. But I have been in touch with him all this time. I keep in touch with him because he is a very warm and intelligent person. He is not scared of listening to any thought or being open to any idea, that is admirable about him.

Years later, Imtiaz encountered the same hesitation from Mahesh Bhatt's daughter, Alia, when he gave her the script of Highway. She wasn't sure she could do the film. Read all about it here.