Imtiaz Ali rated his 2017 film Jab Harry Met Sejal 3 out of 10 and called it a “missed opportunity”. The director said that the Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma film had a strong idea at its core, but he felt that the final film did not use this potential well.
The romantic comedy-drama marked his first collaboration with both actors. It had significant pre-release buzz, but received a largely negative response after release and failed to meet box office expectations.
Imtiaz Ali rates Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Harry Met Sejal as 3 out of 10
The Indian Express reported that Imtiaz spoke about ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ during his appearance on ‘Unfiltered by Samdish’. When he was asked to rate the film out of 10, he gave it 3 points.
Explaining his answer, Imtiaz said: “I feel it was a missed opportunity, because of the potential of the story.
I should have handled it differently.” He added, “I liked the potential of the story more than the story and certainly more than the movie.”The director then explained the idea behind Harry’s character. He said he thought of a man from a small village in Punjab who travels abroad with innocence and compassion, but life slowly becomes cruel to him.Imtiaz said that a man’s emotional response to intimacy shaped the character.
According to him, Harry carried a deep hurt and trained himself to leave after intimate moments so that he would not have to face tenderness again.
Imtiaz Ali calls ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ a missed opportunity
This is not the first time that Imtiaz has spoken about the failure of the film. In an earlier interview with Ranveer Allahbadia, he said someone told him: “So what if the film is not good, it is still your film.”He said that this remark affected him deeply. “It hurt me so much,” he recalls. He also called Imtiaz the film an “unfortunate child” and said he felt “strangely sad” when he looked back at it.He said he was disappointed with the film at the time and was bedridden with dengue fever for a month. Imtiaz is now gearing up for the release of Main Vaapas Aaunga, which is all set to hit theaters on June 12.
