Director Nikhil Advani recently said that the remake of ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ could explore a romantic angle between the characters played by Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan. He also admitted that some elements of the 2003 hit film, including the Kantaben subplot, didn’t sit well with today’s audience.
More than twenty years after its release, ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ director Nikkhil Advani believes that modern audiences will interpret the film through a completely new lens. The director recently spoke about his 2003 debut, touching on the film’s finale, the fan-favorite chemistry between Aman and Rohit, how young viewers today are reacting to the comedy and emotional beats of the film, and even hinting that the potential remake could lean into a romantic angle between the characters originally played by Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan.
Nikkhil Advani describes Shah Rukh Khan and Saif’s dynamic as a romance that has not aged well
When speaking to Mid-day, Advani described the relationship shared between Aman Shah Rukh Khan and Rohit Saif as a classic romantic relationship at its core. However, he was frank about some elements of the film that have not aged gracefully, particularly the recurring gag revolving around Cantaben’s suspicions of homophobia towards the two men. He noted that this subplot is now making some viewers feel uncomfortable, including his daughter, whose reaction highlighted how much public discourse around gender, acting and comedy has shifted in the years since the film first hit screens.
“It was an affair,” Advani said, in his own words.
Nikhil Advani says the true ending of the film was never about the girl
He also shared that, emotionally, the real climax of the film for him had nothing to do with the love story on the surface, it was the moment when Aman and Rohit made their own pact that felt like the real ending, even in the role of Naina, who portrayed it.
Preity Zinta
remained a central character throughout. Interestingly, he pointed out that this particular scene is now eliciting a different kind of reaction from the female viewers, who find themselves wondering where Naina is at that moment.
As Advani said, “The film ended for me when Aman and Rohit made a pact with each other. This pact was about a woman, and that woman was standing outside in the corridor and today most girls are wondering why the hell she was standing outside when these two were talking about all this nonsense.”
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Nikhil Advani is open to exploring a romantic angle between Aman and Rohit in the remake
Advani was upfront about the fact that the kind of emotional payoff that ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ offers would be a tall order for today’s audiences. As he put it, “I will never be able to escape this kind of ending to Kal Ho Naa Ho again.”
But rather than seeing that as a limitation, the director seemed open to what a new reimagining could open up — specifically, the possibility of giving Aman and Rohit’s relationship a more explicit romantic dimension.
As he puts it, “If we were to remake Kal Ho Naa Ho today, it would be interesting to explore that.”
About “Kal Ho Naa Ho”, Nikhil Advani’s directorial debut
‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ was released in 2003 and was Nikhil Advani’s debut film as a director. The film was produced by Karan Johar under Dharma Productions and had Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta in the lead roles, while Jaya Bachchan, Sushma Seth, Reema Lagoo, Delnaaz Irani and Liliti Dubey played supporting characters. The story revolves around Naina, who falls in love with Aman, who is suffering from a terminal illness, while her boyfriend Rohit secretly has feelings for her.
The film was among the biggest hits of that year, and even today it remains one of the most popular and loved romantic films in Bollywood.
