It has been 10 years since ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’ and since on the internet, they celebrate everything these days, the release of this film was also celebrated with the media conducting an interview with its director Abbas Tyrewala. JTYJN was also the launch vehicle for Imran Khan. Imran, being the nephew of Aamir Khan, was really hyped to be the next big thing. His first film was a hit and what followed was a series of flops.
In his interview, the only things we found interesting are the secret he let out about the Pappu Can’t Dance song and what went wrong with Imran Khan. First, here’s the song in case you don’t remember:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GME8aaDFZPk
10 years ago when they promoted the song, there was a rumour going around that it was based on Salman Khan. Aamir, as you know, is a marketing genius, must have thought of this gem since he was also friends with Salman back then. Now, they are not so close but that’s another thing. 10 years ago, here’s how that headline was:
Both Aamir and Imran were asked about it and they made-up some story to divert the attention.
Then, boom! 10 years later, the director lets the cat out of the bag. He said this was all a publicity and it was made up by their PR-team. He probably forgot what he said 10 years ago when he blamed the media for spreading this rumour.
Was the Pappu in ‘Pappu Can’t Dance’ song referring to someone in real life?
It was quite amazing. First there were articles that it was based on Salman Khan. This was before the film was released. This was done by our PR team. I was like, ‘Oh my God, Salman will beat me.’ But it was just a fun marketing gimmick and Salman was very sporting about it.
But later when it started being applied to Rahul Gandhi, I think some [pauses] … once we had coined Pappu, it was always going to be bigger than one song or a film. Referring to someone as Pappu has become a cultural phenomenon. I love the fact that it has almost become iconoclastic.
See, the truth does come out even if it is after 10 years! It seems that Aamir enjoys making fun of Salman. Only he knows why!
10 years has passed since Imran made his debut. His last film was in 2015 and since then, he has been trying his hands at other things since he has not been getting any good offers. He already written a script and is looking forward to turning director with it. Speaking about Imran, here’s what Abbas has to say:
Imran Khan was thought to be meant for bigger things after an impressive debut. Sadly, 10 years on, he is nowhere on the scene.
I don’t like to judge other people’s choices, career. I just think that Imran’s soul was not completely in sync with hardcore Bollywood [Hindi cinema]. Everytime he tried to do something that was really hardcore Bollywood, he looked a little out of place. Whether it is as an actor, and probably more like a filmmaker, which is what he had studied when I had met him, even then he knew that acting would be something he did for a while and then he wanted to make films.
I think Imran needs to find a distinctive voice in the sense that say a Rajkumar Hirani or a Farah Khan have. I don’t think Imran will be able to speak in the voice of typical Bollywood. I believe the most exciting phase for Imran, be it as an actor or filmmaker, is still before him. To judge his career now would be very silly.
We have to wonder whether Aamir tried to help him out again. We have also wondered how does he manage to live and go on vacations if he is not earning any money? Many people have said that he has a loaded mother-in-law, but it can’t be that she is giving them money, right? Who knows?! Imran was really into fashion and all that. He wanted to be the male Sonam Kapoor. You can see he is trying to make a statement every time he stepped out for a movie promotion. Abbas too tried to make it as a director, but couldn’t. It’s been 10 years since he made ‘Jhootha Hi Sahi’ with John Abraham. He managed to piss off a lot of people before that since it was said he got really arrogant after the success of JTYJN.
How many of you have seen JTYJN?