Farhan Akhtar, the multi-talented filmmaker, actor and singer, has finally revealed the real reason behind the delay of his upcoming directorial venture Jee Le Zaraa, which stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt in the lead roles. The film, which was announced in 2021 as a road trip movie featuring three women, has not gone on floors yet due to various issues.
In an interview with Variety, Akhtar said that the main problem was the availability of dates of the actors, especially Priyanka Chopra, who had some conflicts with her Hollywood commitments. He also mentioned that the actor’s strike that happened recently had put Priyanka’s dates into a huge tizzy. He added that he had started to believe that the film had a destiny of its own and it would happen when it had to.
He told the publication, “We just have issues with dates, and the actor’s strike that’s happened has put Priyanka’s dates into a huge tizzy with what can happen and what can’t, so I’ve started genuinely believing that that film now has a destiny of its own. It’ll happen when it has to, we’ll see.”
Jee Le Zaraa is co-written by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, and marks Farhan Akhtar‘s return to direction after a decade. He last directed Don 2 in 2011. The film is expected to be the first ever all-girls road trip movie in Bollywood and has generated a lot of excitement among the fans of the three leading ladies.
Did Katrina and Priyanka opt out?
However, there have been rumours that Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra have opted out of the film due to the delay. A media report claimed that Priyanka had asked Farhan if they could shoot for Jee Le Zaraa in 2024, but Alia Bhatt was already committed to shooting for Ramayana and Baiju Bawra in 2024. This led to Farhan deciding to postpone the film until the right time.
“Priyanka Chopra was not able to commit the dates to shoot in 2023 due to her Hollywood commitments and asked Farhan if they could shoot for Jee Le Zaraa in 2024. While Farhan was fine with it, Alia Bhatt is already committed to shooting for Ramayana and Baiju Bawra in 2024. Given that the two films are going to be taxing, she couldn’t align her date for next year. When nothing fell in place, Farhan decided to delay the film until the right time,” the source claimed.
Reema Kagti confirmed the same cast in ‘Jee Le Zaraa’
However, Reema Kagti had refuted these rumours in an interview with PTI and said that Jee Le Zaraa would go on floors with the same cast. She also said that the film was very close to her heart and she was looking forward to working with Farhan, Priyanka, Katrina and Alia.
Jee Le Zaraa is produced by Excel Entertainment, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The production house was founded by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani in 2001 and has given some memorable films like Dil Chahta Hai, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Gully Boy and Toofaan.
Stay tuned with us for latest news, Hindi box office news, Hollywood news, OTT news, latest bollywood news and latest box office news.
