MID-DAY (March 8, 2018)

Imtiaz Ali believes that the best way for Bollywood to enter a new business market is by having “Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan as a combination of exuberance and content”. During a panel discussion at FICCI Frames, Ali said that when local content is consumed globally, it makes storytellers enhance their craft. “I think, you need Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan as a combination of exuberance and content to break [into new markets]. Of course, I’ve shot with Shah Rukh in Europe. There wasn’t a place we went where people didn’t recognise him. That’s a great thing for us [Bollywood],” Ali said.

Exposure to different markets, he says, improves the quality of content being churned out from the industry. “What it [exposure to new markets] does is change the quality of your own work. When you are aware of the fact that different people from all over the world are watching [you], I think there is a qualitative improvement because it is travelling abroad.”

The filmmaker added that ventures like Devdas (2002), which opened in European markets, and Secret Superstar (2017), which swept over audiences in China, are testimony to the fact that “we [countries] have started to wear the same clothes”.