Karan Johar-helmed Ae Dil Hai Mushkil completes 7 years of its release today. The Dharma Productions’ owner shared an Instagram story recalling the movie and the unforgettable experience.
The Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Anushka Sharma film was different in many ways as it was not the typical love triangle or a conventional love story.
Alia Bhatt was the first choice
Karan Johar’s prodigy Alia Bhatt was the first choice to play the role of Alizeh which later went to Anushka Sharma. If that had happened, maybe Ranbir Kapoor and Alia's love story could have begun a bit earlier.
Eventually, though Karan did rope her in for a cameo apart from of course Shah Rukh Khan who just wowed as Aishwarya’s ardent one-sided lover.
Nevertheless, many even believed that since it had 3 to 4 people involved, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was something similar to Karan’s earlier movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.
But this was an entirely different movie. Talking about the same, the Student of the Year director once said that the movie is not about infidelity and that the morality of the characters is not questionable.
Ranbir Kapoor was pretty upset with Anushka Sharma
There are many scenes in the movie where Ayan and Alizeh disagree and at one point the latter has to slap Ayan on the face to make him understand her situation with her lover and husband DJ Ali. The shot had to be done multiple times so that it was done right and every time Anushka had to slap Ranbir she just didn't do it with natural ease but with full force.
Ranbir Kapoor was initially pretty upset with this but later on, appreciated his co-star saying she is an organic actor and wants to give a true performance. It was also rumoured that the movie was the love story of Ranbir's parents Rishi and Neetu Kapoor. However, Karan Johar denied any such thing.
Fawad Khan’s inclusion triggered controversy
Karan received a lot of backlash for hiring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan to play a role in his movie. A lot of communities protested against it but eventually, the film was released in India. What’s more- initially, the characters of Saba and Alizeh were to be Pakistani women but after a few hiccups, the director decided to make them Indian.