More than twenty years since its release, the ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ director Nikhil Advani he believes that modern audiences would interpret the film from a completely new perspective. The filmmaker recently opened up about his 2003 debut, the film’s ending, the fan-favorite chemistry between Aman and Rohit, and how young audiences today engage with the film’s comedy and emotional beats, even hinting that a potential remake could lean into a romantic angle between the original characters. Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan.
Nikkhil Advani calls SRK and Saif’s dynamic a bromance that hasn’t aged well
Speaking to Mid-day, Advani described the bond shared by Shah Rukh’s Aman and Saif’s Rohit as a classic bromance at its core. That said, he was honest about certain elements of the film that haven’t aged so gracefully, particularly the recurring gag built around Kantaben’s homophobic suspicions about the two men. This subplot, he noted, now makes some viewers uneasy, including his daughter, whose reaction highlighted how the public discourse around sexuality, representation and comedy has changed significantly since the film first hit screens. In his own words, Advani said, “It was a bromance.”
Nikkhil Advani says the real ending of the film was never about the girl
Also, emotionally, the real climax of the film for him had nothing to do with the superficial love story, it was the moment when Aman and Rohit reached their private agreement that felt like the real ending, even though it was portrayed by Naina. Preity Ribbonhe was a key figure throughout. Interestingly, he noted that this scene now elicits a different kind of reaction from the female audience as they question Naina’s place in the moment. Advani said, “The movie ended when Aman and Rohit made a pact with each other. That pact involved a woman, and that woman was outside in the corridor and today most girls wonder why the hell she was outside when those two are talking shit.“
Nikkhil Advani is open to exploring a romantic angle between Aman and Rohit in a remake
Advani was candid that the emotional payoff delivered by ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ would be a tough sell for today’s audience. In his words, “I can never get away with that kind of Kal Ho Naa Ho ending ever again.” But rather than seeing this as a limitation, the director was open to what a new regime could unlock, specifically the possibility of giving the Aman-Rohit relationship a more romantic dimension. He said, “If we were to recast Kal Ho Naa Ho today, it would be interesting to explore that.”
About ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, Nikkhil Advani’s directorial debut
‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ was released in 2003 and was Nikkhil Advani’s directorial debut. The film was produced by Karan Johar under Dharma Productions and starred Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta in lead roles, while Jaya Bachchan, Sushma Seth, Reema Lagoo, Delnaaz Irani and Lillete Dubey played supporting characters. The story revolves around Naina, who falls in love with Aman, who is suffering from a terminal illness, while his friend Rohit has hidden feelings. The film was one of the biggest hits of that year and remains one of the most popular and loved Bollywood romantic films even today.
