Actors Anushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan, the leads in director Imtiaz Ali’s romantic-comedy Jab Harry Met Sejal, recently defended their director. They vehemently disagreed that he followed a similar template in all his films.
Speaking to Mid-Day, Anushka Sharma said, “People think he uses the same template in his films; I have never seen anything like that. Some props are similar, but there’s an unbeatable lure in his films. True love happens only when people discover who they really are, and Imtiaz views love as a teacher. One can’t tell Imtiaz how to make a love story. I like how real his characters feel. Imtiaz portrays that reality with such honesty that he cannot hit a false note.”
Shah Rukh Khan, who plays a Punjabi man named Harry in the film, said something similar. “No one can ever have enough of love. There are way too many facets of love, and Imtiaz always has a fresh perspective on romance. There’s always a new way to present love stories. Imtiaz has his own language. I have never been a lover like I play in this film, and only Imtiaz could’ve thought of something like this.”
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Imtiaz Ali, who has directed seven Bollywood films so far, is usually accused of following a similar pattern in all his films – boy meets girl, girl gives boy a purpose in life and fulfills his validation, boy goes on a journey of self-discovery. Some of his films are Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009), Rockstar (2011) and Tamasha (2015).
Jab Harry Met Sejal is slated to release on August 14 this year. The film has SRK in the role of a tour guide. Anushka Sharma plays a Gujarati girl named Sejal, and the two embark on a journey to find her engagement ring.