Karan Johar marks 10 years of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, reflects on unrequited love

Karan Johar marked 10 years of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil by reflecting on its themes of unrequited love, longing and heartbreak. The filmmaker acknowledged the film’s flaws but said he would tell the story the same way again.

Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar took to social media to celebrate 10 years of his romantic drama ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.’

He described the film as a deeply personal story inspired by his own experiences of love, longing and heartbreak. Taking to Instagram, Karan posted a video from the movie and wrote, “Ae dil hai mushkil… will always be a personal story to me… a cumulation of many pieces of my pursuits of love and longing and perhaps also many of my own heartbreaks … at possibly one of the most vulnerable moments of my life I realised that one sided love did not need remorse or sympathy … it didn’t warrant pain or empathy… all it needed was deep and intense understanding that the power of love is so much larger than the reciprocation of the same…”

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“You don’t need to have someone love you back to empower yourself – the feeling itself is so awakening and so so powerful! Loving someone has to be an act of selflessness and we as a community of lovers have to disassociate the “I” in “ I love You” Selflessness is where true love truly resides…That feeling made me tell this story,” he added.

Karan went on to state, “I do admit that it wasn’t without its flaws and had several polarised responses … especially to its third act…. BUT truth be told I would have still told it the same way even today, with its flaws… with its perceived imperfections…”

“No art can be perfect and all interpretation is welcome but conviction has to trump all logic and sensibility when you want to be an unabashed story teller. I am so eternally grateful to Ranbir, Anushka, Aishwarya and Fawad who allowed me my vision and gave me their glorious and supremely talented interpretation of the same! I thank the cast and crew of ADHM for creating the perfect “Vatavaran” on set…

“10 years ago we told a story about unrequited love. The essence of our story was “ ek tarfa pyaar” but the love we have towards all the lovers of our love story is unconditional….Love you all from the bottom of our hearts…Accha chalta hoon… duaon mein yaad rakhna,” he concluded.

The video shared by Karan features scenes of Ranbir Kapoor’s character Ayan alongside Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan from the film.

Released in 2016, “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” is a Hindi romantic musical drama written, directed, and produced by Karan Johar under his production house, Dharma Productions. The film featured Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead roles. It hit theatres worldwide on October 28, 2016, coinciding with the Diwali festival.