Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has revealed that he was once abducted from his Delhi hostel by a local gang after a dispute over a political poster.

Speaking on Unfiltered with Samdish, the Hindu College alumnus recalled the incident from his student days amid the usual political rivalry on campus.

“At that time, there was the usual political rivalry, perhaps NSUI versus ABVP, in universities. Someone had put up a poster on the wall of my hostel. I told them not to put it on the front face of the hostel and instead use the side walls. They deliberately pasted it on the front wall. In front of them, I removed it and put it up on the side,” he said.

A few days later, around 2 am, a hostel mate warned him that the group was coming for him. “They arrived and said, ‘Come with us.’ I asked where, but they had come in a cycle rickshaw to take me away,” the filmmaker recalled.

Imtiaz said he was taken to what looked like government quarters, where a local gang leader questioned him about the poster. He explained that he had not torn it but had simply moved it because he felt it spoiled the hostel’s appearance.

“The gang leader asked one of his men whether I had torn the poster. He replied, ‘It’s the same thing. Whether he removed it or tore it, it’s the same.’ The gang leader got angry and said, ‘You told me he had torn the poster, and now you’re saying he only removed it?’ They got into an argument, and the gang leader slapped his own man twice for lying to him. That’s how I got away,” Imtiaz shared.

What had begun as a seemingly minor campus disagreement turned into a late-night ordeal with an unexpected twist that helped Imtiaz walk away unharmed.

The director is now awaiting the release of his next film, Main Vaapas Aaunga, starring Diljit Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, Sharvari and Naseeruddin Shah. Set against the backdrop of Partition, the film explores themes of love, longing and intergenerational connections and is slated to release in theatres on June 12.