Director nahin, jadugar hain: Kartik Aaryan thanks Imtiaz Ali for Love Aaj Kal

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Kartik Aaryan, who made his debut in Pyaar Ka Punchnama in 2011, has come a long way in his career. He was last seen in Imtiaz Ali's new Love Aaj Kal as both Veer (from 2020) and Raghu (from 1990). The film hit the screens on Valentine's Day, February 14.

As Love Aaj Kal recently made its way to Netflix, Kartik took to Instagram to share two throwback photos looking back at his association with Imtiaz. One of the photos is a still from Love Aaj Kal, while the other shows the actor-director Jodi on the sets of the film.

Along with the pictures, Kartik penned a heartfelt note thanking Imtiaz for choosing him for the film. Kartik also spoke about his journey in Bollywood - from dreaming about being an actor to bagging his first movie and then finally getting Imtiaz Ali's film - in the caption when you first dream of being in films, you act in front of the mirror and nail it every time, and the world of movies seems magical. Then you get a movie. You see the camera and are unnerved. It’s bigger than the suitcase you brought to Mumbai. The bright lights seem to be scolding you for not landing on a one-inch tape mark and wasting everyone's time. The first few years become about trying not to look nervous (sic)," Kartik wrote in his caption.

"Then you get an Imtiaz Ali movie. The moment he narrates the story, you are pulled into a dream. I don’t even remember seeing the camera on his set, he‘d always be standing wherever I looked after the cut. He was never at the monitor, he was by my side. The lights on Imtiaz Ali’s set help you find those tape marks (sic)," the actor added.

"I have never experienced the kind of love and appreciation I have got for my performance in Love Aaj Kal, and that too from some of my favorite filmmakers and people I most respect in the industry. How ironic that the making of this film felt almost effortless! It would scare me to think of doing two characters in one movie. And here, I didn’t even realize how smoothly I was being transitioned between #Veer and #Raghu (sic)," his post reads further.

Kartik goes on to say, "For an actor, there is no better environment than being In front of that mirror. Imtiaz Ali takes you there. This is the reason why so many great actors’ greatest performances have been in Imtiaz Ali films. Imtiaz Ali director nahi hain, jaguar gain! Thank you, sir, for giving me the best performance of my career yet (sic)."

Imtiaz Ali director nahin hain jaguar hain - and how we agree with Kartik on this! Apart from Kartik and Arushi, Love Aaj Kal also starred Sara Ali Khan in the main role. Sara was cast as Zoe opposite Kartik's Veer. The film was a sequel to Imtiaz's 2009 Love Aaj Kal which starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone as leads.