Imtiaz Ali signs his first-ever brand endorsement deal

Highlights

• In Bollywood, actors are known to make money from their many brand endorsements.
• And looks like now director Imtiaz Ali too has joined the bandwagon of stars becoming brand ambassadors.
• Sources say that Imtiaz will be seen in an ad of an electronic notebook/tablet company. And it was after some hard convincing from photographer friend Atul Kasbekar that the filmmaker agreed to sign on the dotted lines.
• A source informs, "Imtiaz has signed his first endorsement deal. Earlier too he had been approached for many brands. However, he preferred to stay away from this space. Imtiaz has a massive fan following and Atul convinced him that the product in question belongs to his intelligent space. After much deliberation, the director finally agreed."
• Atul, whose agency handles Imtiaz, says, "He is a huge brand in himself and has grown over the years. We don't want him to be associated with any product that he wouldn't himself use or believe in.
• It was initially Karan Johar who started the trend of filmmakers supporting brands. He was soon joined by Anurag Kashyap, who endorses a chocolate brand. Industry insiders say that the ads endorsed by directors are made keeping in mind their personal style of filmmaking.
• Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar says, "I think Imtiaz is a good choice. He is young, has dreamy eyes and makes very intense romantic films."
• All of that makes him a female icon. As far as other directors are concerned, it is interesting and a good choice to have them to reach mass audiences.