Mumbai, May 8 (IANS) Actor Kartik Aaryan said playing two characters in one movie would seem scary, but if the transition from Veer to Raghu in "Love Aaj Kal" was smooth he credits the film's director Imtiaz Ali for it. The actor feels Ali brings out great performances from actors in his movies.

Kartik took to Instagram and shared a still from "Love Aaj Kal", and also a picture of himself along with Ali.

Alongside the image he wrote: "When you first dream of being in films, you act in front of the mirror and nail it every time, and the world of movies seems magical.?Then you get a movie. You see the camera and are unnerved. It's bigger than the suitcase you brought to Mumbai. The bright lights seem to be scolding you for not landing on a one inch tape mark and wasting everyones time."

"The first few years become about trying not to look nervous.?Then you get an Imtiaz Ali movie. The moment he narrates the story, you are pulled into a dream. I don't even remember seeing the camera on his set, he‘d always be standing wherever I looked after cut. He was never at the monitor, he was by my side. The lights on Imtiaz Ali's set help you find those tape marks," he added.

Kartik claimed he never experienced the kind of love and appreciation he got for his performance in "Love Aaj Kal".

"And that too from some of my favourite filmmakers and people I most respect in the industry. How ironic that the making of this film felt most effortless. It would scare me to think of doing two characters in one movie. And here, I didn't even realise how smoothly I was being transitioned between #Veer and #Raghu," he wrote.

"For an actor, there is no better environment than being In front of that mirror. Imtiaz Ali takes you there. This is the reason why so many great actors' greatest performances have been in Imtiaz Ali films," Kartik added.

The actor then praised Ali and called him a "magician".

"Imtiaz Ali director nahi hain, jadugar hain (Imtiaz Ali is not a director but a magician)! Thank you sir for giving me the best performance of my career yet. @imtiazaliofficial #LoveAajKal."

"Love Aaj Kal" co-starring Sara Ali Khan released on Valentine's Day this year. It traced love stories of two different eras -- the first is set in the late 1980s-early nineties, and unfolds between Raghu and Leena. The other love story, set in the present time, happens between Veer and Zoe.

The film is a retelling of Ali's own film of 2009 that starred Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan, and was a hit. "Love Aaj Kal" 2020 fared below expectation at the box-office and was also critically panned.

--IANS dc/vnc