Imtiaz Ali on what makes a great storyteller: 'Ability to not lose focus on the small sensitivities of their characters'

Imtiaz Ali’s films stay with you for being unconventional and depicting different layers of love. Whether it is a road trip story or a romance that travels through time and location, Imtiaz knows how to hit the right chord with the audience. The maker of critically acclaimed movies like  Tamasha , Rockstar , Highway, and Jab We Met recalled how his love for storytelling started. He also talks about why he avoids seeing superficial stories and what is so special about his forthcoming film Thai Massage starring Gajraj Rao in the lead role.

He was recently in the capital to attend India’s only traditional storytelling festival, Kathakar. Now in its 14th edition, Kathakar 2022 showcased some mesmerising stories from the deserts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Poland, whose Błędów desert has spawned a string of captivating folktales. Organised by Delhi-based NGO Nivesh and Himalayan Hub for Art, Culture, and Heritage, an NGO under the aegis of UNESCO, Kathakar began its journey in 2011 as a platform that aims to revive the art of storytelling in India.

Excerpts from the interview:

‘Kathakar: International Storytellers Festival’ is a beautiful attempt to take the youth to the world of storytelling – away from the digital world. How important do you think these initiatives are?

Personally, I don’t believe that technology is the enemy. I do feel that with the advent of digital technology, lots of things have become better. But I think an initiative like Kathakar is important to let young people realise that it is possible to receive without devices. Good interactions, good connections, and good ideas can be had and shared when people actually get together face to face, listen, and talk. It brings us to the basic nature of a community. I think that is a very enriching… that is an enriching experience. I could see in myself and in the audience of all the three editions that I have attended, that everyone felt like an appliance that has been grounded.

You are a beautiful storyteller and your stories take us to the real world of love, pain, and complexities- Do you think storytelling has to be real and relatable?

I feel that I do not choose the stories that come to me. I’m compelled to narrate the stories that appear in my brain. I have not thought about how these stories should be. But I, as a viewer, I’m definitely interested in watching stories that have various layers like life has various layers. I don’t like superficial stories in movies. And I guess that is why people find layers in the stories that I tell.

Do you remember the storytelling session from your childhood times?

I was interested in stories like all children are when they are being put to sleep. My grandma used to tell me the same two or three stories, again and again, every day. And I would be interested in waiting for her to tell me these stories before I could fall asleep.

One of these stories I remember was about a ‘Chidda’ and a ‘Chidiyaa’, which is like a male bird and a female bird who had to go somewhere, but before they went they needed some food to carry. So they went to the granary to ask for some grain but the grain merchant said, “I would have given you the grain but the grain is at the mill”. So they go to the mill and then the guy at the mill says, “I would have given you the grain but it is stuck because my machine is stuck. So the grain is inside the machine.” So then how does this bird goes from place to place. From the mill owner, he goes to the electrician and the blacksmith, and so on. And how the whole chain finally completes and he can get the two grains back and fly away to wherever he had to go.

So stories like that, simple stories like that. Then again and again the same story, I would hear. And I feel that it sets your imagination free. It’s a very, brilliant time, it starts to compel you to imagine. And you kind of get enchanted and entertained by imagining, even before you can see things on the screen.

How has it helped you become the person you are today?

I was interested in listening to stories, and imagining them has led me to tell the stories that I imagined. And yeah, I think that’s what must have happened.

But only in your films? 

No, I think even before I started making movies, or even before I started to write things down seriously.

I was a bragger. I used to tell tall tales to people about what I do during the time that they are not there. I used to brag a lot. I think that was the beginning of my storytelling.

Were you also involved in a storytelling session with your child and how special were those times for you as a parent?

I think the most important part of the growing up of Ida, (my daughter) was the times that I would tell her the stories. And she was so fascinated by these stories that I had to make a rule that I would tell her only one story. As a change from what I got from my grandparents and parents, I would try to tell her an original story every day. And as one can imagine, these were improvised. Maybe she could feel like a kid, she could see me constructing the story as I went along. Very soon, there came a time when she started to tell me her stories.

And I remember the first story that she told me, it was her standing on the window of our first-floor house, and then falling from there, and me catching her so that she could be saved. That was the first story she came up with. And then later she developed into a fine storyteller. And now is making stories on film. So I think the most important part of our relationship as she was being raised was our storytelling sessions.

You are working on a beautiful project about a 70-year-old man with Gajraj (Rao) in the lead role. How different is this film?

Thai Massage  is a very interesting story, which is written by Mangesh Hadawale (my friend and director). I’m very fortunate that he decided to have us, to let us produce this film. Although it’s a story very different from the kind of stories that people have seen me direct or make, there is something quite similar too because there is a journey, there is an internal and an external journey. There is the coming of age. However, the coming of age is of a 70-year-old man. And his realisations are such that he can’t even share it with the society he lives in. So it’s very interesting. And also quite thrilling in the way it unravels.

What kind of storytelling impresses Imtiaz in real life and why?

I like stories about places that I have not been to or stories that are about aspects that I have not discovered about those places. Even when I look at photographs or paintings, I like people in a place. I like things that are cultural, stories that are cultural. I feel local culture makes stories very interesting. So I am very impressed by filmmakers or storytellers that can give me a feeling of being somewhere. Probably a place I’ve never been in. The other thing that impresses me about some storytellers is their ability to not lose focus on the small sensitivities of their characters as they tell a big story of a large number of people or big geography.

Nivedita Sharma’s work experience includes covering fashion weeks in Milan, Pakistan, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Dubai, and award functions like IIFA, and TOIFA. 

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