Imran Khan says constant comparison with Ranbir Kapoor left ‘bitter aftertaste’

Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor marked their acting debuts around the same time in the industry. Check out what Imran said about the media scrutiny.

Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor were the heartthrobs of the nation when they marked their debut in Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na and Saawariya respectively. They also appeared in the talk show Koffee with Karan and hosted award ceremonies together. In a new interview with India Today, Imran is opening up about the intense scrutiny of the media that pitted them against each other. (Also read: Imran Khan finally opens up about the reason why he separated from Avantika: ‘I was dealing with all of this baggage…’)

Imran Khan with Ranbir Kapoor at a film premiere.

What Imran said

In the interview, Imran said, “It’s unfortunate that it would always leave a very unpleasant aftertaste because that’s not how I viewed it and from my conversations with Ranbir back then, he never got into that thing either.”

‘Listen, aisa aisa hua hai…’

He further continued, “My recollection of him is that he took the craft very seriously. He is a cinephile. And he was also not engaging in that thing. This is the spicy stuff that they like to talk about in the gossip magazines so it leaves an unpleasant aftertaste but if neither of us are buying into it, then it doesn’t come into that part. I recall here and there a couple of particularly ugly things would come out and we would always make it a point to kind of reach out and say ‘Listen, aisa aisa hua hai [this has happened], are we cool?'”

Earlier this month, Imran had clarified that his reason for saying no to an espionage series is being misconstrued as critique for Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal. The Sandeep Reddy Vanga film was a crime action drama that emerged as one of the highest grossing Hindi movies of 2023 despite being labelled as misogynistic and brutally violent by a section of viewers and critics.

Imran was last seen in the 2015 film Katti Batti.