For all those who thought Bollywood director Imtiaz Ali, maker of romantic films such as Jab We Met, Socha Na Tha and the forthcoming Love Aaj Kal, is an expert on matters of the heart, here’s a surprise. “I don’t know what love is,” Ali said today. “Making films about it is my way of exploring the emotion.”

Ali was speaking at ‘Screen Preview’, a media interaction organised by Screen, the entertainment business weekly of The Indian Express group. Giving him company were the lead stars of Love Aaj Kal, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone, and producer Dinesh Vijan.

While all four were obviously excited about Love Aaj Kal hitting the screens soon, Padukone confessed that she was rather surprised about how realistic the characters in it were. She said she found it quite odd that Ali had carved her character, Meera, close to the person she really is. “I would often look at him during the shoot and say, how did you know this about me? And he would just reply: it’s not you Deepika, it’s Meera,” she recounted.

Ali admitted that the character of modern day, Jai, is similar to the hyperactive, forever talkative Khan. And the actor agreed. “I’m always thinking a million things and I talk at the same time as I think. Jai is just that kind of guy and so I found it really easy to play him.” The 39-year-old actor also plays another character, a Sikh by the name of Veer, in the movie. “I had so much fun playing Veer, which is set in the 1960s. The rustic setting of Patiala and having to don a turban there helped me get into the character,” he said.

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