Ace filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, who brought out the acting prowess of Alia Bhatt to the big screen with the 2014 film ‘Highway’, recalled creating a safe space on set after a crew member created trouble. Imtiaz was speaking at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa during which he opened up on maintaining decorum on a movie set.
A ‘Highway’ crew member tried to get near Alia Bhatt
Imtiaz Ali shared that ‘Highway’ was filmed in a village which meant the cast and crew did not have access to vanity vans or other amenities that they usually would. He revealed firing a crew member who tried to get near Alia while she changed or used the loo in the open.
“Alia had to change or go for nature’s call in unusual places. One crew member tried to be around her during that time, and I immediately sent him back. This happened thrice in my career, but not anymore. Times have changed drastically. Actresses are really safe on sets now. The film industry in Bombay is remarkable for the way it treats its women. With 200 people working in a unit, it is a very safe space for them,” said Imtiaz.
Imtiaz Ali on casting Alia Bhatt for ‘Highway’
Imtiaz met Alia at the screening of `Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana` (2012) albeit he had not seen her debut film ‘Student of the Year’. During an episode of Mid-day’s Sit With Hitlist, he shared, “I started talking to her and I realized that there`s some warmth in her. Emotional quotient was very high and I was very drawn to talk to her and she was talking very nicely. I started to talk to her about deeper things about things like home, society, and sh*t like that just to draw her out into that kind and I started to hear her true voice.”
“I always wanted to cast a slightly elder, like a woman of at least 30. I didn`t want to cast a more mature woman who`s had experiences of the type that she was going to talk about in the film. I didn`t want a young person in the film, but after meeting her, I realized that what I was looking for was the emotional depth, which this little girl has,” he added.
