Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Rockstar (2011) have shown us that Imtiaz Ali is at his best when helming love stories. You would think the gritty thriller, She, is almost a deviation. But the filmmaker surprises us when he says, “[With She], I am not getting out of my comfort zone. I am getting into it. There is a lot of drama, discovery, intimacy and journeys that I have not been able to bring to the screen before.”

In the crime drama, Aaditi Pohankar’s constable character Bhumi goes undercover as a sex worker to discover the secrets of Mumbai’s underbelly. While Imtiaz serves as the writer-showrunner of the Netflix offering, filmmaker-brother Arif Ali has resumed his place behind the camera for the upcoming second season. Being a director at heart, is it easy to step back and not interfere with another filmmaker’s vision?

“I never step in as the director. Sometimes, for a particular scene, if Aaditi or Arif [seek my guidance], I go as a friend or an associate. I have no interest in directing something that another director is working on. I would hate that [to happen to me] as a director. I can call the shots on my turf, but not here.”

Stepping into the role of a showrunner is not easy, Imtiaz admits. “I have to approve what Arif directs. It’s difficult because people do things differently from how you do them. It’s not better or worse, it’s just different. So, it’s important to collaborate. I am learning to create a space where two minds work [together].”

The first season had some drawbacks — from the barely fleshed-out central character, to the inherent male gaze of the show. Being a male writer, does it get difficult to develop a woman-led story? “I have never thought of it that way. As a man, I am more fascinated with women [and their stories] than of men. I might write something that people do not like, or it might be at odds with their world view. But with She, I am telling a story. That said, I have learnt a lot from the women in my life — my mother, daughter and my friends — and that reflects in my work.”

Arif Ali and Imtiaz Ali