Imtiaz Ali Opens Up On “Ordinary Film” ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ Failing To Win Over Fans
Imtiaz Ali's big project with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma – ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’—proved to a total dud at the box office.
Imtiaz Ali is known for making some stupendous movies like ‘Jab We Met’, ‘Love Aaj Kal’ and ‘Rockstar’ among others. His movies have had emotions, love and some laughter as well, making him one of the top directors going around in Bollywood. However, his big project with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma – ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’—proved to a total dud at the box office, and even failed to win over fans. Speaking about the movie, Imtiaz Ali said his intention was to make an “ordinary film” that could easily be understood by the movie goers.
The director said a perception had been built around Tamasha, his romantic drama starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, that the movie was for intellectuals.
His aim with ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ was to break that perception and make a movie that would be easy to consume and understand.
“What happened after Tamasha was that people were taking me very seriously. There was this whole thing of, ‘Tujhe nahi samajh aayi Tamasha kyunki tu akalmand nahi hai (You didn’t get the film as you aren’t intelligent)’, and I thought, ‘My movie is being discussed in a club where I wouldn’t find admittance’. This is getting too much, and I don’t want to be like that, so let me make a film which is not intellectual at all,” Imtiaz Ali told actor Roshan Abbas on the Stumble podcast.
“Let me make an ordinary film… Every film you make you are attached to, but the reason for making Jab Harry Met Sejal at that time was to make something jisme koi dimaag nahi lagao, matlab, ‘Yeh picture bhi bana sakta hai Imtiaz Ali jisne Tamasha banayi (a film where you don’t have to apply your brains. Imtiaz, who made Tamasha, can also make this film)’. I felt it could be a new thing, I could’ve made it better. But I could’ve made everything better, but…” With a laugh, he said that audiences felt, ‘Yeh nahi samajh aayi picture (We didn’t get this film),” he added.
Following ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, Imtiaz Ali had to face another disappointment with his next offering ‘Love Aaj Kal 2’ also tanking at the box office.
The director will be hoping for a change in fortunes with his next release, a biopic, Amar Singh Chamkila, starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra.
