Imran Khan is back on the big screen after ten years with a cameo in ‘Happy Patel’, and he says his comeback is all about reconnecting and making movies for the pure joy of it. Over the last two years,
Imran read through many scripts but didn’t find any that excited him until he heard about ‘Happy Patel’, which is the directorial debut of his friend and ‘Delhi Belly’ co-star Vir Das.
He shared that when he started coming out of his break in late 2023, people realized he was around and began reaching out, but his approach now is very different from before. Imran said not everyone wants the same thing from their career, and he’s not trying to be a huge star or be in the top three. He’ll only do a film if he truly loves it and feels FOMO. He mentioned that he’s financially secure and now prefers working with friends and people who think like him.
For Imran, making movies has always been about having fun with friends, dressing up, and playing roles together. He believes creating art should come from love and joy. When he heard that Das and another friend, Mithila Palkar, were working on a wild, spoof spy comedy, he felt left out and wanted to join in. He texted Vir Das asking to be included, so Vir wrote him a part that wasn’t in the original script. Imran said Das is one of India’s best stand-up comedians and he enjoys his shows.
‘Happy Patel’, which released on Friday, is a quirky spy comedy and reunites Imran with Das after ‘Delhi Belly’ and with Palkar after ‘Katti Batti’. In the movie, Imran plays Milind Morea, an international supermodel. He and Das planned to keep his cameo a secret to surprise audiences, but the news got out quickly.
Imran admitted he was surprised to see himself in the trailer and didn’t expect so much attention, especially since he hadn’t tried to stay relevant during his break. He said the attention was much more than he imagined, and usually people say you have to work hard to stay in the public eye, but he hadn’t done that. Imran explained he stepped back from acting after several of his films, including ‘Katti Batti’ and ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’, didn’t do well at the box office. He said at first it was tough when his films flopped, but he made them with love and friends and enjoyed the process.
