Top 42 Quotes & Sayings by Imtiaz Ali

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Indian director Imtiaz Ali.

Last updated on April 15, 2025.

Imtiaz Ali is an Indian film director, producer, actor and writer who works in Hindi films. He started his career with writing and directing television shows. He directed shows like Imtehaan, Naina and Kurukshetra. In 2005, he made his directorial debut with Socha Na Tha, which didn't perform well in the box office. Then he earned critical and commercial success for his direction of Jab We Met (2007). His next directorial ventures Love Aaj Kal (2009), Rockstar (2011), Highway (2014), and Tamasha (2015) focused on ideologies of self-discovery made him a noted filmmaker.

Indian - Director | Born: June 16, 1971

Source: Wikipedia

I think 'Rockstar' is more dear to me than any of my other films.

Imtiaz Ali

I want all my films to look distinctly different, like some other directors I admire. But in a way, I can't really take myself completely out of the movies I make.

Imtiaz Ali

I was interested in theatre and media and came to Mumbai to get a job. I imagined that the film industry would be a white building with producers sitting in different rooms, and you could walk in and meet them, and they would interview you and select you.

Imtiaz Ali

I'm not the 'look at me' kind of a person. I do not like showing off in public or written about.

Imtiaz Ali

I just write characters, and somehow they happen to be a boy and a girl. When the story is put together, and their characters interwoven, they do end up together somehow.

Imtiaz Ali

I am a keen observer of my own films; I also try to discover myself through the movies I make.

Imtiaz Ali

I want to direct what I feel is interesting - not what is supposed to be my zone.

Imtiaz Ali

I feel whatever an actor does on screen is something the actor 'does,' and what the director can do is to tell, talk or instruct. So, all the credit for an actor's performance goes to the actor alone.

Imtiaz Ali

The story of 'Highway' is completely about travel. It is about the fascination of travel to an extent that I don't want to even reach the destination and also being away from society gives you a certain view of the society, so that was the intention of the film.

Imtiaz Ali

My father did irrigation jobs, and I would sometimes accompany him, and that gave me a taste of what was going on in the innards of India.

Imtiaz Ali

When you write a story, it just flows and you don't control it. It's subconscious.

Imtiaz Ali

Dilip Kumar was the only Bollywood hero who could make a girl shiver just by looking at her. If you don't believe it, ask your mom!

Imtiaz Ali

All the conscious decisions that I have taken in my life have never borne fruit. Not even come close! So, I am just very happy not planning.

Imtiaz Ali

I have always tried to make profitable films because people's offices shut down if films fail, and I will do everything to avoid that.

Imtiaz Ali

Through travel, you discover a new aspect to your personality. You discover things which you wouldn't seated in the confines of your home.

Imtiaz Ali

Anything I wanted to do and achieve has not been influential in my life, but my failures have.

Imtiaz Ali

I used to love Kapil Dev and, like any schoolboy, wanted to become a cricketer till I started dreaming of making movies.

Imtiaz Ali

Usually, you lose interest in a story beyond a certain point. But with 'Highway,' there was something very subtle, yet something very influential. I intended 'Highway' to be the first film that I ever made. Didn't happen.

Imtiaz Ali

My job is to tell a story, and the decisions about the casting have to be honest.

Imtiaz Ali

'Love Aaj Kal' is not really a road movie, but it does involve some travel.

Imtiaz Ali

I come from a middle class background. I have travelled a lot by trains and have lived in the world. It is a world I cannot get away from; I would not even want to.

Imtiaz Ali

The film industry has been extremely welcoming to me. It's an industry which is biased to what they think is talent. If they think you can bring value to cinema, they'll support you.

Imtiaz Ali

I myself got married at a very young age. It has always intrigued me because marriage is very synthetic in an otherwise natural world.

Imtiaz Ali

I enjoy looking beyond the obvious and look at the stories happening all around me - you kind of formulate things in your mind and get excited about them.

Imtiaz Ali

I try to travel as much as I can... I'm always looking for a reason to.

Imtiaz Ali

Expenditure can't really guarantee a great experience. I don't even like shopping; I've never bought stuff for myself, and everything I wear are gifts from my brothers, friends and people.

Imtiaz Ali

I'm not educated about cinema or genres.

Imtiaz Ali

If a person wants to enjoy attention, he will create situations to get it.

Imtiaz Ali

I was called to audition for a play when I was very young, following which I continued to act as well as write and direct. When I moved to Delhi and joined Hindu College, theatre became a very big part of my life.

Imtiaz Ali

I was complexed and awkward that I was good for nothing and was always lying. I would lie to my school friends that I was a stud in my colony and to my colony friends that I was a stud in the school cricket and football teams, though I was in no team.

Imtiaz Ali

The physical journey in my films is indicative of the internal journey that my characters take.

Imtiaz Ali

Especially on unexpected journeys, you have time; you can figure certain deeper things out, like who you are and what you want. That's why I enjoy journeys.

Imtiaz Ali

I enjoy scenes in films, which do not have the pressure of the story so much... and it flows. I've tried to go in that direction.

Imtiaz Ali

Coming from a middle class background, travel was always considered a luxury then, even if it meant going to a relative's place or a religious shrine.

Imtiaz Ali

I'm a big foodie. Hyderabadi cuisine is amazing, and the kind of mutton dishes available at some restaurants in the Old City is incredible.

Imtiaz Ali

Sometimes I don't know whether a movie has been shot on film or in digital when I watch it in the theatres.

Imtiaz Ali

I think I am a travel junkie, and I have never enjoyed anything else in my life more than travelling and going to places.

Imtiaz Ali

Usually, you lose interest in a story beyond a certain point. But with Highway, there was something very subtle, yet something very influential. I intended Highway to be the first film that I ever made. Didnt happen.

Imtiaz Ali

I have never seen a film being as influenced by the incidents during its making as Highway. The adventures of our north Indian road journey has many stories to tell.

Imtiaz Ali

On the contrary Deepika feels inferior to other people I was surprised when I realised it. She is straightforward & very giving

Imtiaz Ali