Imtiaz Ali

Biography

Imtiaz Ali (born June 16, 1971) is an Indian film director and writer. His 2007 film, "Jab We Met", was a major success in India. Imtiaz was born into a Punjabi Gujjar Muslim family and brought up in Jamshedpur, where he studied at D.B.M.S. English School. His relatives have cinema halls in Jamshedpur - Star Talkies, Jamshedpur Talkies and Karim Talkies. Later he attended Hindu College in Delhi, where he took part in college theater. Thereafter he moved to Mumbai and did a course in marketing and advertising from St Xaviers College. Ali began his career directing TV programs including Kurukshetra for Zee TV and Imtihaana for Star Plus. After about seven years of doing so, he moved on to Bollywood films starting with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005 with Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. In 2004, he also made a cameo appearance in Anurag Kashyap's "Black Friday". These films helped establish him as one of the best romantic comedy movie directors. Despite its box office failure, the movie Socha Na Tha won critical acclaim. "Love Aaj Kal" (2009) and "Rockstar" (2011) made him a noted filmmaker.