Imtiaz Ali Reveals How Ranbir-Deepika Starrer Tamasha Was Born Out Of His Own Experience, Says, "That Boy Is In A Way Me"

Imtiaz Ali has aced storytelling especially romances bring his own style to filmmaking which has fascinated the audiences over the years. One such film which was much talked about has been his Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor starrer Tamasha where his style to telling a boy meet girl story truly caught the attention of many.

The filmmaker now reveals in an interview with Netflix that Ranbir’s character in a way was him and recalled his obsession with stories and storytelling which was inspired by his exposure to cinema as a child. Imtiaz revealed that during his years growing up in Jamshedpur he used to watch movies sitting the projection rooms of theatres as some of the big cinema halls in town were owned by his relatives and everyone knew him. He says that he would sometimes even help load film reels for the projection of a show.

He says that it didn’t matter what film was playing but for himself he enjoyed looking at the movie from odd angles and seeing larger than projections of people. The experience enchanted him enough to get into filmmaking himself and then hearing stories that have been told and retold to us through the eras he claims formed the synthesis on which Tamasha was based.

He says, “There is a boy, that in a way is me. At every age being fascinated by stories and wanting to be in that world and wanting to somehow participate, be a part of it, tell stories, listen to stories. I have not reallty been to a film school. I have also not assisted anybody while directing, So I am that freak show that came to set one day already a director.”

Imtiaz in the interview also recalls how he is obsessed with Juliet’s balcony after being inspired by Shakespeare from an early age and how he makes it a recurring theme in his films.