'Some story ideas are not meant for film': Imtiaz Ali wants to direct a web series

Mumbai: He started his career directing TV shows before gradually helming movies and now filmmaker Imtiaz Ali is planning to try his hands at making short web series. Imtiaz said he has certain ideas with him which can be turned into a series with limited number of episodes. “I am planning to… I am talking to people about may be a (web) series as well. Basically, I am opening the gates, I feel we might be getting into, at some point, a short series with limited number of episodes,” he said. Imtiaz was speaking on the sidelines of a special screening of his short film, India Tomorrow here. Having directed six feature films since his debut in 2005 with Socha Na Tha, Imtiaz says he has some story ideas over the years which he couldn’t put on big screen. “Sometimes you have story ideas which you feel are not really meant for films… And I have some of them over the years which are very dear to me but I haven’t made them because intrinsically I know it is not for theatre watch,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2595128” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Imtiaz Ali. Solaris[/caption] “A lot of things are like serials. Like I’ve got a spy story, which isn’t ending at a particular point, it goes on. It’s more about this person… It has got an episodic nature,” Imtiaz added. The Tamasha helmer has made India Tomorrow, a 5-min short film which chronicles a conversation between a sex worker and her customer, which leads to a powerful message. “I deliberately chose a sex worker because very often we feel ‘her life is over, poor girls has no scope’ but even she can, and very often they do have plans and dreams. So if they can, anyone can,” the 44-year-old director added. In the past, there have been references to brothels and sex workers in his films, be it Rockstar or the ‘Hotel Decent’ sequence in Jab We Met. When asked if he was toying with idea of making this short film since a long time, Imtiaz said, “I’ve been very fascinated by sex workers because they’ve always surprised me. Years back, I used to do a talk show in which I met all kinds of different people and I met some prostitutes as a result of this show.” “But each one has surprised me by being an individual… There is a personality, experience of life there,” Imtiaz added. The filmmaker said the short film addresses the ability to have dreams even though people may be divided over certain issues. “India Tomorrow is the sum total of all our dreams and all our hopes. We might be divided over issues but all our combined dreams, is going to make India tomorrow. And nobody, no matter what he or she does, is below the purview of that. There is no one who can’t afford a dream.”