As a kid, elder brother Imtiaz Ali was an Amitabh Bachchanlike figure for Sajid
Sajid Ali, director of the recently released Laila Majnu, wasn’t always raring to make a mark for himself in this field. In fact, he was poised to make his acting debut in Vikramaditya Motwane’s coming-of-age film Udaan (2010). But fate had other things in store for him.
He confesses, “I had no plans for either acting or direction. When Vikram met me, he wanted to cast me in the film. I had no experience or idea, no desire or ambition whatsoever. I went through a confused time. I studied filmmaking for a year. It was an open course and taught me documentary, fiction and a bit of animation. I wanted to see what I could do in media. I was also taught screenwriting and developed a liking for it. I finally thought I found a voice, and it led me here, over a period of 12 years.”
Of course, the fact that his big brother, Imtiaz Ali, has directed films like Jab We Met (2007) and Rockstar (2011), motivated him.
“I was absolutely nervous about doing a love story; it doesn’t come natural to me. Romance as a genre requires depth and understanding; it’s the toughest one. My brother has a good command over it. I don’t have the depth my brother has, so it was reassuring that I have someone like him, with whom I can keep bouncing off stuff,” says Sajid.
“Since childhood, I’ve been very inspired by him, he’s a cult figure for me. He’s the big brother I could never live with. When I was in kindergarten, he had already graduated school and was off to Delhi (Imtiaz is an alumnus of Delhi University),” reveals Sajid.
“He became this fabled brother I was writing letters to,” he tells us and chuckles, “He would come from Delhi, and get me sweets, which were exotic sweets back then. He would tell me stories when he put me to bed. He was that Amitabh Bachchan-like legendary figure for me.”
Sajid earlier confessed he failed at becoming like Imtiaz. “I subconsciously started being like him. I also got a lot of flak from people. Now, I don’t have any shame in admitting it,” Sajid signs off.