In a conversation, Imtiaz Ali discussed the plan to make 'Rockstar'. He told that initially the story was shared among a few selected people, after which Ali started working on it after many years. He met Ranbir Kapoor during a screening event and after a brief conversation, they met again.

Imtiaz had intended to give Ranbir the script of some other film, but he liked the script of 'Rockstar' so much that he became curious to know about it. Ranbir was so impressed with this musical drama that he started narrating the story to Ali with great enthusiasm. Seeing Ranbir's passion, Imtiaz felt he was the perfect fit for the role.

Imtiaz asked Ranbir if he would play the role in the film. Ranbir's positive response made Imtiaz promise him that he would come back with the script of 'Rockstar'. However, Imtiaz lost the script and had to rewrite it. Imtiaz said, 'I rewrote it from memory.'

Released in 2011, the film also stars Nargis Fakhri, Aditi Rao Hydari, Piyush Mishra, Shernaz Patel, Kumud Mishra, Sanjana Sanghi, Akash Dahiya and Shammi Kapoor. Imtiaz Ali recently directed 'Amar Singh Chamkila' starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra.