How Imtiaz discovered the reel names for Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda in Highway

Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda will soon be seen in de-glam avatars in Imtiaz Ali’s Highway. And to suit their rugged appearances, Imtiaz dug into his own history and geography to give them interestingly unusual names - Alia is called Veera and Randeep is named Mahabir. What’s interesting to hear is the story behind these two names. The name Veera is derived from Veera Desai Road where Imtiaz used to live. "Also, in Punjab, girls, especially sisters, are referred to as 'veera'," Imtiaz says. While Veera has a bit of history and geography involved in it, Mahabir has some concoction of mythology as well. Apparently, to find a name for Randeep’s character, Imtiaz delved into the holy Ramayana. Here, he found Lord Hanuman’s life to be similar to that of Randeep’s reel life character. "In Ramayana, Hanuman comes and does all these superhuman things and sacrifices his life but still it’s never about him,” says the director. Finally after naming both his characters as Veera and Mahabir, Imtiaz discovered a connection between these two names. “The commonality in the two names has just been a personal smile to myself," says Imtiaz with a smile on his face. Really unusual but catchy names, we say. Let’s hope Highway takes us on a joyful ride like Imtiaz’s Rockstar did. The movie will hit the silver screens on 21 February (2014).