Imtiaz Ali collaborated with Shah Rukh Khan in the 2017 romantic drama Jab Harry Met Sejal. The film received poor reviews upon release and underperformed at the box office. In a new interview with Mid Day, Imtiaz opened up on what went wrong with the film, pointing out that he had not utilised the stardom of Shah Rukh properly.  

What Imtiaz said

During the interview, Imtiaz Ali opened up on Jab Harry Met Sejal and said: “I feel that Shah Rukh is the biggest star I worked with, but he is so accessible person that he never gives you the impression that ‘I am somebody’. He is just a regular guy, sitting over here and talking."

He went on to add, “But the fact that he is such a humongous star is not something that I had not calculated or made provision for at all. I had written and directed the film like I would for anybody. But he is Shah Rukh. That manifested itself in ways I wasn’t thinking maybe. The other thing is that I would have written and showcased the film differently. It is not that I would do anything extremely filmy, but I would have added flashbacks and scenes where Shah Rukh could be used to the best of his strength, both as an actor and a star. I didn’t figure that out.”

More details

Imtiaz Ali's last film was Amar Singh Chamkila starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra. The film presents the untold true story of Punjab's original rockstar of the masses, who emerged from the shadows of poverty and rose to the heights of popularity in the eighties due to the sheer power of his music, angering many along the way, which led to his assassination at the young age of 27. The film is available to watch on Netflix.

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