'Most of the reviews had a 2 or 2.5 stars rating. It is so amusing when the same critics today remember the film as cult, memorable, pathbreaking cinema, etc etc,' the filmmaker added.

Coming back to his price tag, how does he plan to play his cards post 'Love Aaj Kal'?

'See, there are different kinds of propositions that different filmmakers consider. Some make multiple movies a year while my sensibilities don't allow me to work on more than one project at a time. My journey would most likely mean directing one film every two years. This by itself has a bearing on the entire economics,' he explained.

'I don't want to unnecessarily charge a producer the kind of money that would be unaffordable for him and hence make the entire business prospects unviable,' Ali reasoned. 'I'm now primarily looking at a combined model where I get some amount of money as my price while the rest comes as profits from the film.'

He is looking at being even more flexible when it comes to smaller films.

'If at all a subject is of the kind that requires to be made on a small budget, I would have profit-sharing as my prime mode of reimbursement,' Ali said.