Imran Khan wants to do films for joy

Imran Khan, who returned to the silver screen after a decade with a cameo in “Happy Patel”, says his comeback is motivated purely by a longing to reconnect with filmmaking for the joy of the craft.

Khan revealed that he evaluated numerous scripts over the last two years but none interested him until he encountered “Happy Patel,” the directorial debut of his former “Delhi Belly” co-star and friend, Vir Das.

The actor, who was last seen on screen in 2015 film, “Katti Batti”, said, “Not everybody wants the same thing from their careers. Everyone’s got different paths that they’re seeking. I’m not seeking to build myself into a very big star, to be the biggest star or to be in the top three. Unless I love the film and really want to make it, I won’t… I will only make a film if I feel FOMO (fear of missing out),” he said.

Acknowledging that he is financially secure, Imran, best known for rom-coms like “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Naa”, “I Hate Luv Storys”, and “Break Ke Baad”, said at this point in his life, he prefers working alongside friends and like-minded individuals.

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“The reason that I ever made films was to play with my friends. That’s how I see moviemaking. Not to take away from how seriously one takes the thing, but creating art must come from a place of love and joy,” he said.

Imran said when he heard that Das and another friend, actor Mithila Palkar, were working together on a “zany, spoofy spy comedy”, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of missing out.

“I texted Vir saying, ‘I would love to be in your film, can you include me somewhere?’ So, he wrote me a part, which was not in the original script and said, ‘Let’s have some fun’,” Imran shared, adding that Das is one of the best stand-up comedians in India and he loves attending his comedy shows across the world.

“Happy Patel”, which released in theatres on Friday, is a quirky spy comedy. It is a reunion between Imran and Das after “Delhi Belly” (2011), and with Palkar after “Katti Batti” (2015).

In the film, Imran takes on the role of Milind Morea, an international supermodel. The 43-year-old actor admitted that he was surprised to see himself in the film’s trailer and never anticipated the attention and interest it would generate.