Did Karan Johar Really Need to Change Lahore to Lucknow in ‘ADHM’?

Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai and Fawad Khan were to play Pakistani characters in ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.

Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. 

There were a few pre-release murmurs doing the rounds that some of the main actors in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil were playing Pakistani characters (from Lahore) and that following the anti-Pakistan sentiments that gained ground as a result of the Uri attacks, the makers had changed Lahore to Lucknow to play it safe.

While the earlier reports were speculative because there was no official confirmation of this from the producers of ADHM, post the release of the film it does seem that Anushka Sharma, Fawad Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan were originally conceived as Pakistani characters, which had to be unceremoniously changed on the edit table.

Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/@DharmaMovies)

In the film, the inserts of shots of Lucknow’s streets and the airport stand out especially when juxtaposed to the interiors of the airport and the signage inside. Delhi-based lawyer, Trideep Pais has pointed out other elements which look out of place in this unfortunate conversion of Lahore to Lucknow.

But, it’s not just about a technical change of location here. Karan Johar was probably aiming to send a message about how in a foreign space, the differences between being an Indian and a Pakistani doesn’t necessarily count and how the love for Bollywood acts as a unifying bond.

In her review of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, film critic Nandini Ramnath opines:

The Muslim characters in <em>Ae Dil Hai Mushkil</em> are now Lucknowi rather than Lahori. The original story seems to have been about Indians and Pakistanis meeting in the capital of their former coloniser, only to find that in this post-nationalist space, the heart is the real adversary. It might not have been enough to save the movie from its limitations, but the original attempt to convey the challenges of internal border crossings would have made <em>Ae Dil Hai Mushkil</em> less pat and more genuinely difficult.

Nandini Ramnath (Scroll.in)

Screenwriter and editor Apoorva Asrani also tweeted his reaction to the change in ADHM’s narrative:

Karan Johar and Ranbir Kapoor on the sets of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. (Photo courtesy: Twitter)

If true, the makers of the film were obviously preempting an assumed animosity towards Pakistani characters in their film, which lead them to re-edit the film to suit a convenient and uncontroversial release.

Did Karan Johar really need to give in to the pressures of a hardliner’s point of view and compromise with his creation? When the MNS asked him to bend backwards, Johar seems to have gone ahead and voluntarily done an entire backflip here.

Farhan Akhtar has recently gone on record to say that he will not cough up 5 crores to ease the release of his film Raees (which stars Pakistani actress Mahira Khan). “I think we are law abiding tax payers and the state should take care of us,” was Farhan’s take on the matter. Respect.

Why does an established and powerful filmmaker’s conviction to stand by his work get defeated before a mob of unruly vandals?

In his video message pleading for a safe release of his film, Johar had said “...over 300 Indian people in my crew have put their blood, sweat and tears into my film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, and I don’t think it’s fair to them to face any kind of turbulence on account of other fellow Indians...” If only Johar’s faith in his crew and the people of India could have moved him enough to stand by his film and not maim it.