"In the industry, money is not as important as goodwill. Goodwill is like a hen, which lays eggs and money," said Imtiaz, who is trying not so popular genre with 'Highway', a road movie.
His production house is called Window Seat Films.
"I am not a producer. I didn't intend to produce, but for this one I had to do it. I did not want that the film become a victim of the movies that I have made before and somebody end up losing money," said the director, who went behind the camera for hits like "Jab We Met" and "Love Aaj Kal".
"I will know how much money I have put into it and I will make sure that we don't take a huge amount of money and kill anybody over here. Producing the film gave me the creative ability to say, 'Don't worry do it, I am the producer and I know that.'"
After working with stars like Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Imtiaz roped in Randeep Hooda and newcomer Alia Bhatt.
"I have tried to be honest with my profession. If you have a story, you should cast people depending upon the role and not on the basis of their stardom. If I do that, then my scope as a director and my growth will finish. I need to cast according to the role. Alia and Randeep were my first choice," he said.
Talking about the star system in Bollywood, Imtiaz said: "Star system will change, but in some way or the other it will remain. Sometimes the directors are the star like Yash Chopra and Subash Ghai. And sometimes the actors are the star.
"I feel that there is a reason why somebody reaches that status and deserves to be there. I think each one in the industry has to manage between the story he has to say and the finance that he needs to tell his story."
