Farhan Akhtar says Jee Le Zaraa’s delay was ‘stressful’ for him, felt like he was ‘wasting’ his time: ‘Maybe people thought I wouldn’t be able to direct’

While appearing on the YouTube channel Unfiltered by Samdish, Farhan was talking about his mental health journey as he brought up Jee Le Zaraa, and how delays with that film affected his confidence as a director. He said, “So my film Toofan was released in 2021, and right after that, I was set to direct a film called Jee Le Zara. It just kept getting delayed, and for those two years, I kept saying no to all other opportunities that came my way. I did that because when you have to direct you can only focus on that. If an acting role came, I told them, ‘No, I am soon going to be directing’.”

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The film was announced in 2021 with Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif as lead actors but since then, there have been concrete announcements on the same. Farhan shared that he kept clearing his schedule waiting for the film to start and this period was actually quite “stressful” for him. He added, “The date for the film’s shooting just kept shifting ahead. It was such a stressful period because I thought that I was wasting time, and before I knew it, two and a half years had gone by.” The actor admitted that with all that time on his hands and an idle mind, he started feeling insecure about his skills as a director.

Farhan said, “There are some personal insecurities as well. I started feeling that maybe people thought that I wouldn’t be able to direct. It had been 12 years since I had directed a film, and maybe people were doubtful of my skill. When you sit with a therapist and you tell these things, you start realising where all these things are coming from. I didn’t want to say, ‘Let me move on from this film.'”

Since its announcement in 2021, makers of Jee Le Zaraa, including Farhan, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and others, have given several reasons for its delay. One of the major reasons stated was the schedule of the stars involved with the project. In May 2023, Reema said that the film would be going on floors at the end of the year, but that didn’t happen either.

Farhan will now be directing Don 3, starring Ranveer Singh. He has previously made films like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya.