Saif Ali Khan, currently riding high on the success of his crime drama ‘Kartavya’, has opened up about the decline of the Hindi romantic-comedies. The actor shared his thoughts about the genre that he virtually defined in the early 2000s and why the era for romance may be over on the big screen.
Saif Ali Khan says rom-coms started and finished with him
Saif Ali Khan’s iconic rom-coms like ‘Hum Tum’ (2004) and ‘Salaam Namaste’ (2005) cemented his place in mainstream Bollywood, even earning him a National Film Award. Despite his personal love for the genre, Saif sahred his belief that rom-coms had a limited shelf life in Indian cinema. In conversation with HT City, he said, “I loved doing romcoms, but I feel they were like an anomaly in Indian cinema which might have even started and finished with me in a sense.“The actor added, “I think rom-coms are a failed experiment, although a beautiful one. There is something going deeper in the Indian society, which is the want for a love story.”The actor attributed the disconnect to relatability. Saif elaborated, “A rom-com is technically this confused privileged guy who has everything on his plate but is still confused, so people don’t really connect with it now. They wonder what is his problem. So, firstly, things are not that bad, and secondly, it is something you shouldn’t do after a certain age.”
Saif Ali Khan talks about Kareena Kapoor Khan ‘s advice on him doing romcoms
In the same interview, Saif revealed that his wife and actor Kareena Kapoor Khan also weighed in on the matter. The actor shared, “My wife said to me that things must be sorted now in your head; you can’t be playing [this confused man]. Ibrahim (Ali Khan, actor-son) should do more of it now; it’s our family business (laughs).”However, Saif has clarified that he has not entirely closed the door for the genre. The actor said, “I would love to do a love story, or even a comedy that ends in romance. Now, I feel I can do another romcom, there is still one there in me (laughs).”
More about ‘Kartavya’
Directed by Pulkit, the film stars Saif Ali Khan, Rasika Duggal, Sanjay Mishra, Manish Chaudhari, Saurabh Dwivedi, Zakir Hussain, and Yudhvir Ahlawat. Backed by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s production house, the film premiered on an OTT platform on May 15, 2026.