Actor Kartik Aaryan’s strong box office run was interrupted by the critical and commercial disappointment, Love Aaj Kal. The romantic drama, co-starring Sara Ali Khan, was a standalone sequel to director Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 film of the same name.
The film received dismal reviews and tanked after a strong opening at the box office. But Kartik said in an interview that the experience of working with Imtiaz lived up to his high expectations.
Asked how he handled the film’s ‘dismal performance’, Kartik told Bombay Times in an interview, “I don’t think I had to ‘handle’ anything. When I was offered Love Aaj Kal, I was most excited about the process of working on an Imtiaz Ali love story. The process completely lived up to my imagination.”
He continued, “I have learnt so much from being on Imtiaz sir’s set, and the energy was on another level. It has given me so much as an actor that I genuinely never bothered about the outcome. A great box office performance would have been nice, but a below average one doesn’t bother me at all. At least not yet. Plus, the fact that my performance was so appreciated, especially by my favourite filmmakers, is more than enough for me.”
Love Aaj Kal ended its run with a little over Rs 50 crore at the box office, making it Imtiaz’s second commercial disappointment in a row, following Jab Harry Met Sejal. The filmmaker also created the Netflix thriller series, She.
Kartik, meanwhile, has a diverse slate of films in the pipeline. He will star in Ram Madhvani’s thriller Dhamaka, and also appear in sequels to Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Dostana.
