There's no story in my mind without some man-woman dynamic: Imtiaz Ali

Director Imtiaz Ali says there can be a movie without romance at its core but it would be difficult for him to conceive a story that doesn't feature some sort of a man-woman dynamic.

With "Love Aaj Kal", starring Sara Ali Khan and Kartik Aaryan, Imtiaz is revisiting the theme of his 2009 original that explored the idea of love over two time periods.

"I am comfortable (with love stories) but it's not that every story has to be like this. I will not want this comfort to restrict me from making any other kind of story that comes to my mind. It could be a story where there is no romance at all but that's difficult to conceive (at this point of time)," the director told PTI.

Asked whether it was possible for an Imtiaz Ali film to have no romance, the director said he was wondering the same.

"Even in a story like 'Highway', it has a man (Randeep Hooda). I don't have any story yet that doesn't have a man and woman thing going on in some way. With the growing understanding of life and relationships things will change, but in my mind there's no story without some sort of a man-woman dynamic."
"Lot of people told me he's not this kind of an actor. He does comedies. But ultimately, if you look at previous films and cast an actor, then you're not casting an actor, you're casting a character that you've seen in films. You have to meet the person and see what he can do."
Asked about the criticism that his films have often been told from the male protagonist's point of view, Imtiaz said, "The honest truth is that I cannot help it."
"You don't have to be a woman to understand another woman. You have to be an empathetic person to begin with and even if a woman writer writes about Zoe, she is still not writing about herself. She is still writing about another person."