Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has had more hits than misses in his 20-year career in Hindi cinema. One of the biggest misses for him was Love Aaj Kal 2, the spiritual sequel to his own film. The romantic drama, which starred Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, was a commercial and critical failure. In a recent interview, the filmmaker opened up on the folly and called it a ‘useless experiment’.
Imtiaz Ali disses Love Aaj Kal sequel
In an interview with Zoom, Imtiaz spoke about making the film. “In Love Aaj Kal 2, I did that because I already had the story, and I was excited about it. It didn’t work is a different matter. Love Aaj Kal 2 also told me that this is a useless experiment because it’s not even a viable project, if you don’t want to make it. Love Aaj Kal 2 was a story in itself. I could have made a different story,” he said.
The original Love Aaj Kal starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone. Released in 2009, it was a critical and commercial success, minting ₹120 crore and getting rave reviews. The spiritual successor had the same title. But upon its release in 2020, it was slammed by critics and failed to recover its budget with its box-office earnings. Many compared it unfavourably with the original.
Imtiaz revealed that initially he wanted to call the film Reverse, but eventually decided to name the film Love Aaj Kal, which may have actually harmed it. “There was a time when I was thinking about making a different story and not calling it Love Aaj Kal 2. I was calling it Reverse. But later on it was decided that maybe it would be better to call it Love Aaj Kal 2, which was not a big service to the film. The fact that it needs to be a commercially viable, profitable project is not what will keep me excited for it for two years,” the filmmaker added.
In the same interview, Imtiaz admitted that it is not ‘exciting’ to do a film solely because it is ‘commercially viable’, which is why he stayed away from making sequels for so long.
Imtiaz Ali's upcoming film
Imtiaz’s next, Main Vaapas Aaunga, is a romantic drama set during the Partition. The film stars Vedang Raina, Sharvari, Diljit Dosanjh, and Naseeruddin Shah. Main Vaapas Aaunga hits the screens on June 12.