Imtiaz Ali will never help me, says brother & LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL director

While filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has been charming us with his films for over a decade now, his brother Arif Ali is all set to make an entry in Bollywood now with LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL introducing Ranbir, Karsima & Kareena Kapoor’s cousin Armaan Jain and southern actress Deeksha Seth. 

  

So, ask Arif how much he is influenced by Imtiaz’s style of filmmaking and what similarities they share as brothers and he says “Imtiaz and my upbringing have been from same place called Jamshedpur, which doesn’t have airport. So every time we had to travel through trains. Since our father loved travelling, as children we used to have family trips to various places. We explored interiors of India a lot, that’s why I guess our films, especially Imtiaz’s, are also inspired by it. In that way we share same mentality.”

He adds, “However, after schooling Imtiaz went to Delhi for further studies and I came to Mumbai, since there are no good colleges in Jamshedpur. And because of which our style of filmmaking differs a bit. Imtiaz’s world has been very confined. His exposure has been to politics and casteism mostly because his circle was from North India. While my outlook is completely different. My influence has been the city of dreams – Mumbai. So in my upcoming film LHDD also you will get to see that.” 

 

Since Imtiaz holds an experience of making good & successful cinema, one presumes Arif must have got enough assistance and/or guidelines from elder brother. 

“One thing is well decided amongst ourselves that Imtiaz and I would never help each other. We both understand each other’s sensibilities. We don’t like to intervene in each other’s work space. Yes naturally, if there’s something mutually beneficial happening we collaborate together but Imtiaz is one person who would never help or pull me along to fetch work or push me ahead. Having said that we have also worked together on few TV shows, wherein I was the producer & writer, while he directed it. Similarly, in films also our paths have been very different. Imtiaz never pulled me or gave me any platform. He was always like ki tum karo apna mukaam khud banao,” opens up Arif on his bonding with brother Imtiaz.

Produced by Dinesh Vijan and Saif Ali Khan’s Illuminati Films, LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL is set to release on July 4, 2014