"Jab Harry Met Sejal" movie promotional event with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma

By: Hamza Shafique

Last Friday, I attended promotional Press Conference with Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma for their upcoming film Jab Harry Met Sejal.

Event was organized by Vox Cinema at their Deira City Center branch hosted by my favorite morning radio show host Siddharth and Malavika, popularly known as Sid and Malu.

Itinerary of the event was as such, Stars to arrive at 2:00 PM, make a short appearance at the entrance where there was red carpet arranged with proper solid fence for general public and then for media people like us, there was special session inside Vox Max the cinema with world’s 4th biggest screen and 1st in Middle east Africa region.

There was 8 minute of exclusive movie footage was planned to be shown before proper press junket.

I reached there at 1 and after taking some pictures and videos for my social media audience I went straight to Vox Max.

After a while cinema screen started showing us live feed from outside public area where Sid and Malu were doing a brilliant job entertaining masses. They held various competitions and awarded free open Vox movie tickets. During this they also selected two candidates who will give flower bouquet to the stars and get a chance to get up close with them.

Shahrukh and Anushka were supposed to Arrive by 2 but they arrived at 5. Well when you are a big star like them people don’t mind waiting and honestly no complains as we were throughout entertained by Sid and Malu.

For the first time, I realized and experienced true star power when I saw people going crazy inside and outside cinema just to get one selfie. After little engagement outside Shahrukh and Anushka finally came into the cinema hall. Soon after they arrived we were shown exclusive 8 min footage.

Exclusive footage review:

The clip was like a summary of the whole film and had the most perfect edit with songs and interesting scenes. We got a glimpse of what the film will be about and will definitely help Media encourage people to come to cinemas on 3^rd August. In the beginning, we get to see a lonely Harry who is a tourist guide in Europe. Soon after Sejal comes into picture who appears to be part of the tourist group that Harry was guiding. She has lost her engagement ring during the trip and now wants Harry to help her find it. And then for the next couple of minutes we get to see scenes from the movie depicting evolution of their relationship from being annoyed with each other to becoming friends and eventually things get serious (as expected). Songs are all catchy and after a long while I find one complete album in a movie. In the 8-minute footage that we saw, music intensity also varied with the mood and kept audience engaged. Over all a very engaging and balanced trailer, that gave the audience a very good glimpse of what to expect from the movie.

After the footage, proper press junket started which was very pleasant thanks to their charming personalities and ability to engage the crowd. You can watch the full video below but here are few interesting questions and their answers.

Highlights from the Press Junket:

1-When questioned, if Harry’s character goes through a transformation in the movie like other characters in other Imtiaz Ali’s movies, Shahrukh replied that yes Harry does go through the transformation. Harry is someone who left home at a young age with so many dreams and some of them were still unfulfilled.

2-When questioned, what would be the one thing that Anushka and Shahrukh would like to have from their on-screen personas, Shahrukh answered by saying he would like to be organized and disciplined like Sejal and Anushka showed desire to have the crowd pleasing/steering ability of Harry

3-Film Jab Harry Met Sejal is shot in multiple cities in Europe and required a lot of travelling, So, when asked what the stars think about travel, Anushka replied that she loves to travel alone and finds it perfect way of soul searching/enriching. Whereas Shahrukh is not an avid traveler as he mostly busy and consider living in five star hotels where he gets to stay as form of travelling.

Public waiting since 9 in the morning

4-Most of the actors who have worked with Imtiaz Ali claimed that working with him on unique subjects with a lot of travelling does impact their individual personalities up to some extent as well. So, when questioned if working with Imtiaz Ali had any personal impact on the super star, Shahrukh replied that Imtiaz’s style of working is very warm and cozy. For most of the movie there were only 3 of them Imtiaz, Anushka and Shahrukh working /travelling together. And because of this, this movie, Anushka and Imtiaz all three have secured a special place in his heart.

You would expect media to be a bit professional but they turned out to be equally biggest fan of Shahrukh and instead of formal Q&A the conference ended with Shahrukh and Anushka taking selfie with the whole crowd. I would confess that I was mesmerized by Anushka's flawless beauty and Shahrukh's charming personality throughout. If half of what I experienced from their personality and chemistry in press conference is there in the film then I am sure this one will be a pure entertainer


Complete Video of the Press Junket (sorry for the quality) :

Selfie with Media

Some Self Promotion :)

Biggest screen with Biggest Cinema

Cinema Entrance - must say the branding of the event and movie was great - good job Vox Cinemas UAE

 

All Pictures are courtesy VOX Cinema and Video is by me.