Over
the
years,
Imtiaz
Ali
got
busy
directing
romance
movies
like
Socha
Na
Tha,
Jab
We
Met
and
Rockstar,
but
finally
he
is
happy
to
revisit
his
dream
story
in
his
upcoming
film
Highway.
The
director,
who
has
redefined
romance
in
Bollywood
by
giving
lovable,
relatable
characters
to
audiences,
says
he
is
intrigued
by
the
story
and
by
the
fact
that
it
has
refused
to
leave
him
all
these
years.
"I
intended
this
to
be
my
first
film.
I
thought
of
it
first
while
I
was
directing
TV
serials.
Over
the
years,
I
wrote
the
script,
forgot
about
it
and
continued
to
visit
it
time
and
again
but
I
would
always
end
up
doing
other
movies," Ali
told
in
an
interview.
Ali
has
completed
70
per
cent
of
the
film
Highway.
Starring
Randeep
Hooda
and
Alia
Bhatt,
Highway
is
co-produced
by
Ali
and
Sajid
Nadiadwala
under
a
new
banner,
White
Window.
It
is
slated
to
release
on
December
13
this
year.
The
director
believes
it
is
his
most
honest
work
till
date.
"I
have
thought
of
making
this
story
in
so
many
ways
that
finally
what
has
come
is
the
very
essence.
All
the
hard
substances
are
gone
from
it.
Also,
I
wanted
to
do
it
in
a
very
pure
manner
and
not
contaminate
it
because
sometimes
your
own
incapacity
as
a
storyteller
comes
in
the
way
and
you
think
of
shortcuts."
"I
am
also
trying
to
discover
what
it
is
that
this
story
has
always
been
in
my
mind.
What
is
so
intensely
fascinating
about
it
that
I
have
not
let
it
go,"
says
Ali.
As
the
name
suggests,
Highway
is
set
in
six
different
states
and
captures
the
journey
of
two
completely
opposite
people
who
are
thrown
together
by
fate.
Ali
is
confident
that
Randeep
and
Alia
fit
the
bill
perfectly.
"I
was
looking
for
a
very
city
girl
for
the
character
of
Veera
Tripathi.
She
is
very
high
society,
rich
girl
who
is
thrown
into
the
wild
and
Alia
comes
from
there.
Randeep
is
fit
as
Mahabir
Bhati,
who
comes
from
the
wild.
He
is
gujjar
from
the
semi-criminal
dark
zone,"
says
Ali.
He
is
teaming
with
AR
Rahman
again
for
the
film
post
their
successful
collaboration
on
Rockstar.
Ali
says
he
was
initially
hesitant
to
approach
Rahman
as
the
music
director
was
very
busy
at
that
time.
"We
started
this
film
in
a
big
hurry.
So,
I
did
not
want
to
trouble
him
but
we
stay
in
touch
and
I
mentioned
the
story
to
him
one
day.
We
talked
about
it
for
a
while
and
he
was
onboard."
Ali
is
aware
that
the
music
may
draw
comparison
with
Rockstar,
but
says
that
the
nature
of
two
movies
is
completely
different.
"The
nature
of
this
movie
is
very
different.
This
story
is
played
out
on
a
large
and
very
picturesque
terrain.
In
this
kind
of
journey
you
feel
certain
things
that
can't
be
expressed
except
through
music.
Most
of
the
songs
play
in
the
backgroung
in
Highway."
Ali
has
another
movie
in
the
pipeline
that
will
star
Ranbir
Kapoor.
He
will
start
working
on
it
once
Highway
is
released.