Imtiaz Ali’s 2017 romantic comedy Jab Harry Met Sejal, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, did not perform as expected at the box office. The filmmaker, who both directed and wrote the film, recently responded to speculations about whether Shah Rukh Khan’s star power affected his creative vision for the project. He shared that ‘Shahrukh Khan never imposed himself on the film and admitted that he did not consider the scale of Khan’s stardom while writing the script.’
In an interview with GQ India, Imtiaz Ali was asked about rumors that Shah Rukh Khan had taken over the reins of Jab Harry Met Sejal, which might change Ali’s original vision for the film . He strongly refuted these claims and said that they are completely false.
He said, ‘Shah Rukh never imposed himself on the film. But he is a big star with a huge fan base. They have a lot of expectations to fulfill and I wasn’t writing to fulfill them. Imtiaz Ali said, “I didn’t consider the scale of his stardom.”
The filmmaker further discussed possible changes that could have been made to the film’s script. He explained that certain elements needed to be incorporated into the script to ensure that the soul of the film remained intact.
He mentioned that with Jab Harry Met Sejal, there was a need for more clarity about the character’s desires. He suggested that the film would have benefited from additional exposition, possibly some flashbacks, and a more traditional structure.
Earlier, in an interview with Mid-Day, Imtiaz Ali had shared that sometimes a film doesn’t perform as expected, but that doesn’t mean everything about the film was wrong.
He reflected that while his goal with Jab Harry Met Sejal was to be more ‘accessible and common’, he later realized that this approach did not suit his style. He stressed that filmmakers should focus on making the films they really want to make.
In Jab Harry Met Sejal, Shah Rukh Khan played the character of Harinder Singh Nehra, a Punjabi man, while Anushka Sharma played the character of Sejal Parikh, a Gujarati woman. The film marks their third collaboration after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
Also read: Trupti Dimri, Kartik Aryan join Anees Bazmee to celebrate 45 years; Madhuri Dixit, Sushmita Sen, Govinda and others arrive in style; Watch
