Imtiaz Ali's wanderlust DECODED...

Director Imtiaz Ali has humble beginnings and had hardly travelled besides Delhi, Patna and smaller towns of North India, when he first landed in the city of dreams in the '90s to pursue a career in television writing. "Everything was a discovery at the time," he reminisces.

He told a tabloid, “I went abroad for the first time to Russia and that is one country I still want to film in. It was a very cinematic experience for me and I found myself writing it into my films. But it was only for Love Aaj Kal that I shot for the first time overseas. I filmed in London. I began to work with different people and began to incorporate my feelings in my films."

The director later captured the beauty of Prague and Liberec in Rockstar and introduced the country of Corsica to Bollywood like never before with Tamasha. “When I went overseas and had new experiences, they became evident in my movies and this journey of exploring new countries over and over again started," he admits.

On February 23, the India International Film Tourism Conclave (IIFTC) will be felicitating Imtiaz the IIFTC Impact Award, to honour his contribution to the film and tourism sector. The director couldn't be more excited about showcasing more unexplored countries in his upcoming films. “We keep saying the word 'different' because we want ourselves and our movies to be that way. And what makes me feel honoured is that this award is so different and impactful, since, it encourages tourism promoted by movies and vice versa," says Imtiaz.