After her father Saif Ali Khan entertained his fans along with Deepika Padukone in Love Aaj Kal a decade ago, Sara Ali Khan paired with actor Kartik Aaryan in director Imtiaz Ali’s film with the same title. As Sara went candid about her film and equation with her ‘crush’ Kartik, IBNS-TWF trails her on love and more.
People had started calling you and Kartik Aaryan together as Sartik. Did you expect this kind of craze before the release of the film?
I have said that it is very extraordinary to receive that kind of love and adulation before seeing any kind of footage of ours (onscreen). So it is really amazing and encouraging for me to receive this kind of love so early in my career.
Do you think people pass judgement very quickly as they have done regarding the trailer of this film?
I think it is great. In the age of social media, one passes his judgement quickly and he also takes it back that quickly. So there is no need to give much importance to the comments nowadays. Nowadays, opinions generate and get broken. I don’t take it too seriously.
As the comparisons were made with the previous version Love Aaj Kal, was the usage of new version of songs from the old film an invitation to the comparison?
It wasn’t the intention. At this point, we have crossed over from idealism to stupidity to say that the two films should not be compared. So it is fine. But beyond that, there is more to it. The comparison is fine while watching the film. But after the film’s release, one must see the honest, lovely film which we have done with a lot of hard work. I think that truly and genuinely matters. The characters and concepts are very new. Love has changed so much. I think love changes every year, so do people. Women have changed. The competition, choices and pressure in terms of career have increased. All these make the divide between the career and love life very tangible. Also women as people have changed.
After the completion of the film, you had written a post on social media where you praised Kartik Aaryan. What made you write such a post? Tell us a bit about your thought at that moment.
There were undertones of romance throughout when and what we were doing in the film. I wrote the post right after finishing the shooting. The entire film has of course remained an amazing journey. It has been very special for me. I was also very emotional on the last day of shooting. With every film, an actor feels the same way. One becomes a family of the film where he sees each other everyday and suddenly it stops as the shooting ends. So that does happen. And I think I meant every single line written in the post. There was no point during the shooting where I was made to feel uncomfortable or junior than Kartik or new or inexperienced. There was no kind of air of superiority that he came with. He was supportive every single day on the set. And of course I am going to miss working with him.
You had a crush on Kartik Aaryan. How was working with him and getting close to him in the course of the film’s shooting?
When I had said that Kartik was my crush at Koffee With Karan (television show), I never thought that would reach so far. It is unreal that I worked with the same person on whom I had a crush then without knowing him personally. But I never looked at Kartik as my crush on the sets of the film because we were so invested in Imtiaz Sir’s vision for this film. (IBNS-TWF)