Imtiaz Ali is on a roll. His second film Jab We Met is a runaway hit with audiences raving about the amazing chemistry between Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor. A self-proclaimed fan of the Indian Railways, Imtiaz attributes the film’s success to his two favourite hobbies – travelling and meeting interesting people. “It always fascinated me to think what would happen if a train relationship did not end with the journey – if there was a chance to meet the person again in life. This led to JWM.” The filmmaker, who played a cameo in Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday as Yakub Memon, is inspired by life to make movies. “The starting point of my imagination is the reality around me. Writing to me is recording the pictures and ideas I have in my mind so that I can direct them.” The former TV director is inspired by filmmakers like Bimal Roy, Vijay Anand, Mani Ratnam, Akira Kurosawa, Pedro Almodovar and Francis Ford Coppola.