India, Jan. 25 -- Everybody tells you a story. But does it touch you? Or is calling out to you to make a film? When I read Sandeep Singh's story and also his hand-written essay, I couldn't put it down. It compelled me to make a film," says Shaad Ali about his last venture Soorma which told the story of the Indian hockey captain who made a miraculous comeback to the team against all odds after being shot in a train.

Shaad, who was recently in the capital at the Diorama International Film Festival, was happy to visit the Siri Fort Auditorium where he recalled Mani Ratnam's Dil Se .. (1998) was screened at one of the IFFI editions. That was his first film as an assistant director. The director made his debut with the Rani Mukherji-Vivek Obe...