‘Correct nahi lag raha tha…’: Kartik Aaryan reveals why Shehzada’s release was delayed for Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan

Kartik Aaryan revealed the reason for delaying the release of his film Shehzada, by a week, for Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan. In a new interview, Kartik said that the producers of Shehzada took the call as they didn’t think it was ‘correct’ to release their film as Pathaan was going strong at the box office. Kartik added that being a fan of Shah Rukh he liked the decision. (Also Read | Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon’s Shehzada postponed by a week ‘out of respect for Pathaan’)

Pathaan, helmed by Siddharth Anand, marks Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback film after four years. The movie released on January 25 in theatres. Pathaan also stars John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, and Ashutosh Rana in the lead roles. The thriller follows the titular spy (Shah Rukh) who comes out of exile to stop terrorist group Outfit X from launching a debilitating attack on India.

In an interview with RJ Siddharth Kannan, Kartik said, “The decision was mostly of the producers and directors. Main fan hoon Shah Rukh sir ka waese bhi toh mujhe toh accha hi laga ki jab yeh shift karne ka decision horaha tha. Because woh ek tareeke se jab film aarahi hoti hai, not that I’m saying ki koi chota koi bada, I’m saying ki already woh run karrahi hai woh film. Woh bohut acche se chali hai film. Uske saath wahape aana woh correct nahi lagraha tha producers ko, so they took a call to just delay it by a week jisme kuch aesa dikkat nahi lagraha tha (I am a fan on Shah Rukh sir so I felt good when the decision to shift was taken. When a film is about to release, I’m saying one is big the other is small, I’m saying the film is already running. That film has worked really well. To release the film then didn’t seem correct to the producers so they took a call to just delay it by a week which didn’t seem difficult). We went ahead with it.”

Talking about watching Pathaan, Kartik said, “Maine dekhi (I watched), I also reacted to it. Mujhe toh bohut acchi lagi. Kaafi acchi lagi mujhe. Mujhe infact Shah Rukh-Salman sir saath mein dekhne ka mauka mila bohut time baad woh mereko bohut zada acha laga (I liked it a lot. In fact, I got to watch Shah Rukh-Salman sir together after a long time that I liked a lot).”

Kartik’s Shehzada was scheduled to release on February 10 but hit the theatres a week later on February 17, following the success of Pathaan. Helmed by Rohit Dhawan, Shehzada also stars Kriti Sanon, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, and Ronit Roy. It is an official Hindi remake of the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramloo which starred actor Allu Arjun in the lead role.