At the reopening of Mumbai’s iconic LIDO Cinema with a retrospective film festival celebrating Zoya Akhtar’s remarkable 15-year journey in filmmaking, PVR INOX Ltd. MD Ajay Bijli also invited Imtiaz Ali to attend Rockstar screening with moviegoers.
Imtiaz told Ajay Bijli, “I must remind you that many, many years back when I started as a director and made Socha Na Tha, it was at another PVR theatre.
You’ve done many great things for many people. And the greatest thing that you have done is to keep the dream alive. At this time, opening a new cinema hall gives us hope.And we are here with our new films and old films.”
People’s habit of going out to watch movies is robust
Ajay Bijli also noted that both the demand and supply sides of the film industry are robust.
“A billion tickets were sold pre-COVID. And post-COVID, people said no one comes to watch movies anymore. But in the first year post-COVID, 900 million tickets were sold, and 900 million tickets were sold in the second year. People’s habit of going out to watch movies is robust,” Ajay Bijli added.
He added, “Whatever we do is incomplete without the kind of films you make. The cinema comes alive when a good film is made – the screen lights up. This is a symbiotic relationship that we have. I have been in the industry since 1990; it’s been 34 years. It’s the good films that give us encouragement.” He added, “There is a lot of finesse in your movies. And the music is fantastic which creates magic on the big screen.”
He also shared his excitement about the re-releases,”There is a demand among people to go and watch movies, and this cinema is dedicated to prolific directors. We are going to keep showing film festivals too. It’s really exciting to see movies being relaunched.” Imtiaz added, “I was thinking earlier that I wouldn’t watch the whole film, that I would leave in the middle. But today, all my friends are attending the screening – guys who have worked on Rockstar.”
Among those who attended the screening was Ashley Lobo, who choreographed the songs.
When Imtiaz was asked which director’s biopic he would like to make, he said, “I don’t know much about the lives of directors, but I’m thinking about who had the most dramatic life – so maybe
Guru Dutt
.”
Imtiaz Ali
