Karan Johar on casting Jaya Bachchan as 'nasty character' in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani: Thought it would be great

Talking about Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Karan Johar has said he wanted to shake things up and cast Jaya Bachchan in a role she never played earlier.

Karan Johar has responded to a fan accusing the filmmaker of casting Jaya Bachchan as a 'nasty character' in his latest film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. During a session with Indian Express, fans posed questions to the director and Karan replied that he cast Jaya 'against type' to shake things up. Karan returned to film direction after seven years with the new film that featured Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Shabana Azmi, and Dharmendra, along with Jaya. ()

Jaya Bachchan in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Karan talks about Jaya's role in RARKPK

The fan claimed to love the film but added that he had a grudge against Karan Johar for casting Jaya in the character of Dhanalaxmi Randhawa. The filmmaker then said, "Sir, it was actually to cast against type. She has such a wonderful image on and off the screen. She is a mother figure to me. So, when I wanted to cast against type, I thought it would be a great role for her to go against what she has done. She is like a goody-goody. That was her personality on celluloid. So, sometimes it is nice to shake things up.”

Jaya's negative character

With Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Jaya made her switch to the grey side on celluloid. Before the 2023 film, she always played the traditionally perfect girl or woman in all her films. It is only in the new film that her character showed unapologetic flashes of negative emotions.

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Jaya plays Dharmendra's wife in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Ranveer and Alia have been paired opposite each other in the film that also features Shabana Azmi, Tota Roy Choudhary, Churni Ganguly, and Aamir Bashir. Shashank Khaitan, along with Sumit Roy and Ishita Moitra co-wrote the screenplay and dialogue for the film.

By the end of three weeks, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani earned ₹300 crore at the worldwide box office, and the Indian box office collection stood at ₹140 crore.