Imtiaz Ali: Saif plays younger Rishi Kapoor

Well, the mystery of Saif Ali Khan's double role in LOVE AAJ KAL is finally solved. While he obviously plays the character of Jai in this Imtiaz Ali directed film, he also wears a turban and gets into the shoes of younger Rishi Kapoor who belongs to the 60s. How does this actually happen? Well, Imtiaz explains.

CHECK OUT : Saif to represent Rishi Kapoor in 1965? 

"When Saif and Rishi Kapoor meet, the latter begins narrating his own love story from his past. Since Rishi Kapoor's character confesses that in Saif he sees his own 'jawani', it was just apt that in all the flashback portions, Saif plays Rishi. Also, to make audiences relate to this character Veer, we have also incorporated some finer nuances of Rishi Kapoor in Saif's act", details Imtiaz for whom Rishi Kapoor was always the first choice for the role.Didn't he ever feel like roping in someone who could play both the roles, that of an elder as well as younger Veer? Why get into a hassle where Saif had to play himself as well as younger Rishi Kapoor?

"I guess that would have made the film a little more complicated than simple", Imtiaz says after a pause, "That would have made shooting the film a little too tedious as it would have involved special effects, prosthetics etc. Moreover, I wanted a veteran actor to play the part that Rishi Kapoor plays because that brings in further believability in the narrative that is centred on difference in point of views of people belonging to generations split by decades. With someone like Saif along with Rishi Kapoor, I ended up shooting the film in exactly the same manner as I had visualised it while putting it down on paper."