Imtiaz Ali flies to Patna for a friend

By Subhash K. Jha -

December 12, 2011 - 10:40 AM IST

Imtiaz Ali is known to go out of his way for his friends, especially filmmakers. But even by his reputedly magnanimous standards, the Rockstar director went out of his way to do what perhaps no other star-director would do for a friend.

On Thursday, evening he flew to Patna to attend the premiere of Neetu Chandra's first production Deswaa, a Bhojpuri film directed by Neetu's brother Nitin Chandra. And he flew right back to Mumbai after the screening.

With good reason. Imtiaz who always believes in encouraging new young directorial talent, got a call from Neetu Chandra requesting Imtiaz to attend the premiere. Imtiaz readily agreed, not realizing the premiere invitation was for Patna.

But once Imtiaz grew aware that the premiere was in a different city, he flew right out to Patna for the evening unmindful of his various other engagements. And he got the full rockstar-treatment from the audience. He also got a chance to visit a city where his roots are.

Says a source, "Imtiaz was mobbed like any big star. And they kept asking him questions about Rockstar which he politely but firmly dodged arguing Neetu Chandra and her films were the focus of attention that evening."

Says Imtiaz, "Patna is my mother's home. So it was like a homecoming to me, a long-due homecoming. I haven't been to Patna for fifteen years. So I truly enjoyed the experience. And though I don't speak Bhojpuri, I think it is very important to support meritorious films in different languages."

It was one night when Imtiaz felt like a Rockstar himself. While the screening of Neetu's film was going on in one screen of the multiplex, Imtiaz sneaked into an adjacent theatre screening his own film.