Imtiaz Ali denies rumours of Shah Rukh Khan’s involvement in Jab Harry Met Sejal: “Shah Rukh never imposed himself on the film”

Imtiaz Ali recently addressed rumours regarding Shah Rukh Khan’s influence on his 2017 rom-com Jab Harry Met Sejal, which failed to perform well at the box office. Ali clarified that Shah Rukh never imposed himself on the film, adding that the superstar’s presence didn’t compromise his vision. However, the director admitted that he did not factor in the scale of Shah Rukh’s stardom while writing the script. He also shared that in hindsight, there were aspects of the film that could have been approached differently to better align with the actor’s larger-than-life image.

In a conversation with GQ India, Imtiaz Ali addressed rumours about Shah Rukh Khan taking charge of Jab Harry Met Sejal and compromising his original vision for the film. Ali clarified that these rumours were untrue and stated, “Shah Rukh never imposed himself on the film. But he is a huge star with an enormous fan base. He has a lot of expectations to fulfil and I wasn’t writing to serve that. I did not consider the scale of his stardom.”

Imtiaz Ali further reflected on what could have been done differently with the script of Jab Harry Met Sejal. He explained, “There are some boxes you have to check within your script to make it work, as many as you can, without ruining the soul of the film. With JHMS, we needed to be more clear about what he is longing for. It needed some more exposition, perhaps some flashbacks, and a more traditional structure to work.”

Earlier, in an interview with Mid-Day, Imtiaz Ali discussed the challenges of a film not performing well, stating that it doesn’t mean everything about the film was wrong. He explained that with Jab Harry Met Sejal, his intention was to become more “accessible and common,” but later realized that this approach doesn’t always work. “You have to just make films that you want to make,” he concluded.

Shah Rukh Khan played the role of Harinder Singh Nehra, a Punjabi guy, in Jab Harry Met Sejal, while Anushka Sharma portrayed Sejal Parikh, a Gujarati girl. This film marked the third collaboration between the co-stars after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

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