Sidharth Malhotra on Ittefaq: I was apprehensive about being compared to Rajesh Khanna

In the Ittefaq remake, Sidharth Malhotra reprised the role portrayed by late Rajesh Khanna in the original 1969 film.

Sidharth Malhotra is happy with the response his latest film, Ittefaq, has garnered. The film is inspired from the 1969 suspense thriller — with the same title — starring actors Rajesh Khanna and Nanda. In the new movie, Sidharth plays the role earlier essayed by the senior actor. He knew people would draw comparisons, and was therefore initially a bit apprehensive about it.

Actor Sidharth Malhotra plays the role of Vikram Sethi in Ittefaq. (Waseem Gashroo/HT Photo)

“He (Rajesh Khanna) was one of the biggest stars and he has left an amazing legacy. I was wondering how the audience would react. But as soon as I started working on the film, I realised that the film is not similar to the original and those apprehensions went away,” says Sidharth. The film also stars Akshaye Khanna and Sonakshi Sinha.

Another factor that Sidharth thinks favoured his film is the gap between the two films. “A majority of India has not seen it and by that I mean the youth. That worked to my as well as the film’s advantage,” adds the actor, who has done films such as Student of the Year (2012), Ek Villain (2014) and Kapoor & Sons (2016).

Technically, his film isn’t a remake, says Sidharth. “If you see the old and the new film then you will understand that it’s like a new story, just the premise and essence have been taken from the original film. The twist at the end has appealed to everyone. Also, the audience found the content [to be] fresh, given that they have not seen such a thriller or murder mystery in the longest time. Plus, we didn’t do any promotion so they came with a clean slate, ready for a new experience. I think all these factors worked [in our favour],” he adds.

Sidharth concludes that a small budget film like Ittefaq finding success once again proves that content is king. “It also means the audience has accepted the characters and performance, too,” he says.

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