MUMBAI: Failures do not devastate Imtiaz Ali, who believes he learns a lot more from them than success as he constantly questions his craft.
Ali's films have always found its audience, be it "Jab We Met", "Rockstar", "Highway" or "Tamasha".
His last directorial, "Jab Harry Met Sejal", however, didn't live up to the expectations and the director is aware of how the film fared. "I'm always questioning my craft. This is not the first or the last failure or disappointment that I'm going to have in life. I genuinely mean, I've gained from my failures than from my success," the filmmaker said in a group interview.
"There's only that much pain that actually hits me when I realise that something has fallen short of expectations. It doesn't devastate me. It's fine, both are equal to me," Ali added.
The director's collaboration with superstar Shah Rukh Khan for "Jab Harry Met Sejal" had raised a lot of hope but the film did not do the wonders at the box office upon it's release last year.
When asked did he analyse why the film couldn't work, Ali says, "My analysis will always be biased.
People around me who love me are biased, if I'm thinking from my brain, that's only my perspective.
"It is very difficult to reach across that line and go that side and look. I try. After a film is done I don't calculate it. I don't get into postmortem. I let it go because it's released and I can't do anything."
Ali says all his films are made with equal passion. "If the experience has to teach me something, it will reach out. You make every film with equal passion- whether it's 'JHMS' or 'Rockstar'. Some film will do better, sometimes I feel I am getting too much credit for something, sometimes I feel I'm not."
While Ali's films may be about introspection, finding oneself and coming of age, all of them are also about the power of love. But the director insists he does not know much about that feeling.
"I don't know if I have experienced true love. Even when I was as young as you and now that I'm as old as myself, I don't think I've understood anything different or better about love. I think its an enigma."
"All my movies seem to be about love but it isn't that I have an answer. Personally, I am as lost and confused, maybe more, than you are. I am not a romantic person in personal life," he adds.