‘It never feels good’, says director Imtiaz Ali on dealing with criticism!

Both success and failure are equally important. In the Hindi cinema industry, renowned filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has had both kind of experiences. But it was his determination and never-give-up attitude that helped him advance and climb to the top of the charts. Recently, the Jab We Met director opened up about a difficult time in his life and shared how he responds to criticism.

The acclaimed director was talking to a daily. Imtiaz Ali admitted that he had failed miserably a lot during this conversation. He disclosed, “When I look back, I see a lot of failure in my life, a lot of times where everybody feels at certain times. I particularly feel I failed at various times. In a longer discussion, we can discuss this, but I have gained a lot from those times that I have failed. Sometimes, I have gained more from my failures than from my so-called successes. Although it never feels good when people don't love your work, and when things fail, it never feels good. But now, I have enough experience to know that this will also make a contribution to my further growth and my further success on the whole, as a filmmaker. That's how I take it.”

He further divulged, “The one thing that I never want to do, is to be bogged down by failure to the extent that I stop taking risks.”

When questioned if the failure and criticism had ever badly impacted him, Imtiaz admitted, “No, luckily not, because I have kept it that way. And I hope to continue to keep it that way. I also feel that flat topography is not interesting. If you look at the career graph or film graph of any filmmaker, good, bad, the top, you will always see a certain mountain range, ups and downs." "That's bound to happen. One has to accept and move on,” he disclosed.

Jab We Met was the writer-director's most well-liked and successful movie. Clearing the air and defending its sequel, Imtiaz Ali disclosed, “No, it’s not happening. I don’t have a story for Jab We Met 2 yet. I’ve heard of these and read these reports and articles. Nobody asked me before publishing them, so I don’t know what to say. But let’s see what happens.”