As Bollywood filmmaker, actor-singer Farhan Akhtar's film Dil Chahta Hai reaches a milestone, he announced his next directorial venture Jee Le Zaraa. Farhan is all set to take the leading ladies of Bollywood-- Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt-- on a road trip with this film. Excel Entertainment in collaboration with Tiger baby Films are back with a bang and this one’s definitely the biggest announcement of 2021. The film is being written by Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar and Reema Kagti; produced by Reema Kagti, Zoya Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar.
The film will go on floors in 2022 and will be releasing in 2023. So, fasten your seat-belts, it’s about time the girls took the car out! Announcing the news, Farhan Akhtar tweeted, "Did someone say road trip? Thrilled to announce my next film as director and what better day than 20 years of Dil Chahta Hai to do it. #JeeLeZaraa with @priyankachopra #KatrinaKaif @aliaa08 will commence filming in 2022 and I cannot wait to get this show on the road. "
Not just him but even Priyanka shared the news by sharing a picture of the trio and wrote, "Let’s rewind, to me musing about wanting to do another Hindi movie ASAP, on an unusually rainy night in Mumbai in Nov 2019. But it had to be the right one - different, cool, never been done before… I thought. The idea grew into a movie helmed by an all-female cast. There are not enough Hindi movies that are female multi-starters. This led to an impulsive phone call… to my 2 real friends about this idea that involved 3 on-screen girlfriends. A celebration of friendship we called it!!
Katrina, Alia, and I enthusiastically met in February 2020 (as seen in this picture), just before the world shut down, to discuss who we could trust to bring this vision to life for us and our choice was unanimous… Farhan and Ritesh, Zoya and Reema. We had all worked with @excelmovies and @tigerbabyfilms individually so this seemed perfect. It just so happened that Farhan was working on a female road trip movie at the same time! Talk about all the stars aligning!!
And here we are today… #JeeLeZaraa… it only took 3 years to align all our schedules but we stuck together and got it done! This one is to sisterhood… to friendship and to breaking the mould!! Can’t wait to get on the road with Aloo and Katty. My heart’s smiling. See you at the movies."
From having won national awards for their first couple of films like Dil Chahta Hai and Rock On, to being India's official entry at the 92nd Academy Awards for Gully Boy, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar always made a mark in films over the years.
Truly, this announcement of ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ two decades later, is one most exciting ways to celebrate this milestone for fans as the popular demand for another road trip chronicle turns into reality!
Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai released 20 years ago on August 10, 2001. The film featured superstar Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna as three friends, focusing on the ups and downs in their equations with different approaches towards love and life. For Farhan, it was one of the most memorable projects and a great working experience with director Farhan Akhtar and the entire cast.
He said: "'Dil Chahta Hai' is one of my most memorable films. I think the energies of all of us coming together (Farhan, Ritesh, Zoya, Akshaye, Saif, Sonali, Dimple, Preity, me, Javed Sahab, Shankar, Ehsan, Loy, Basin, Avan, Ravi, Suzanna, Nakul, Subaya, everyone... ), brought something very special to the film."
Aamir added further that 'Dil Chahta Hai' was one of the movies that came out with a distinct story and Farhan Akhtar as a director has done an incredible job. "I loved the script, and I felt that Farhan was coming in with a completely fresh look at everything. His own vision and voice. As a result, 'Dil Chahta Hai' will always be remembered as a film that broke a lot of conventions in Indian cinema. I was working with a first-time director, but never once did it feel like that. Farhan was confident and personified. He was sure footed and completely in control. What a debut Farhan and Ritesh!" he concludes.
