FILM · 2012 · INDIA
Jab Tak Hai Jaan
74 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (74)
- #001
Yash Chopra planned to shoot some portions of the title song "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" in the Swiss Alps, his favourite filming location. After his death, however, the Switzerland shoot was cancelled because Aditya Chopra did not want to disturb his father's vision.
- #002
The film's romantic scenes were directed by Yash Chopra's son, Aditya Chopra, in order to give the romance a more contemporary feel.
- #003
The film's climax was initially planned to be shot by Yash Chopra in Kashmir. Instead, on the suggestion of Shah Rukh Khan, whose film "Dil Se." had been shot in the region years earlier, the climax was filmed in Ladakh.
- #004
This was the last film in which Shahrukh Khan received top billing among the lead cast (with the exception of Fan in 2016). From his next film, Chennai Express, he would allow his co-stars to take the highest billing.
- #005
The film's release coincided with the 50th anniversary of Yash Chopra's career in Bollywood.
- #006
Chopra completed the film shortly before his death from dengue fever on 21 October 2012, at the age of 80.
- #007
This film features Shah Rukh Khan's first on-screen kiss of his entire career. Khan has strict rules, such as not kissing his co-stars or riding a horse in a film, but Yash Chopra approached him and told him it was a necessity.
- #008
The poem "Jab Tak Hai Jaan," which Shah Rukh Khan recites in the teaser and which was included on the film's official soundtrack album, was written by Aditya Chopra, who followed in his father's footsteps by directing romantic classics such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Mohabbatein (2000) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008).
- #009
Filming was originally set to begin in November 2011. It was pushed back to January 2012 because Shah Rukh Khan decided to take a break for his family after the premieres of his films Ra. One (2011) and Don 2 (2011).
- #010
Khan's clean-shaven and bearded looks sparked rumours that he would play two different characters in the film.
- #011
This film marked Yash Chopra's return as a director after an eight-year gap; his previous film was Veer-Zaara.
- #012
The film's first song was completed in December 2011. In February 2012, A. R. Rahman said in an interview that he had completed three songs.
- #013
This was the first film in which Shah Rukh Khan performed an on-screen lip-lock scene.
- #014
The album rose to number one on iTunes' Top 10 World Albums chart the second day after its release, becoming the third Indian album to achieve this after 'Enthiran' (2010) and 'Rockstar' (2011). It is particularly notable that all three were composed by A. R. Rahman.
- #015
In an interview, Khan explained details about his character: Samar is "angry, unforgiving and carries a lot of emotional baggage. I play him sweet when needed. Actually, he is very much like me. Samar is a combination of anxiety, affection, anger and yes, quite unforgiving."
- #016
The "Ishq Shava" dance sequence was shot in an underground club and on a boat on the River Thames, with leading duos and freestyle dancers.
- #017
This was Khan's second consecutive film to be released at Diwali, after "Ra. One" (2011).
- #018
The 35-day shooting schedule, which began on 22 February 2012, included filming locations in Mumbai, London and Bangkok.
- #019
On its opening day, occupancy across India was between 95 and 100 percent in multiplexes and single-screen theatres.
- #020
This was Yash Chopra's 22nd and final film.
- #021
Jab Tak Hai Jaan marked the first time Yash Chopra worked with Gulzar and A. R. Rahman.
- #022
Khan specifically learned the guitar chords of the song "Challa" to convey authenticity while strumming.
- #023
Neetu Singh Kapoor, who plays Katrina's estranged mother, is shown living with Rishi Kapoor; the two are married in real life.
- #024
Jab Tak Hai Jaan became the third highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas at the time, after 3 Idiots (2009) and My Name Is Khan (2010).
- #025
During filming there were rumours that the film was a remake of Yash Chopra's Daag: A Poem of Love (1973), but these rumours were denied by Yash Raj Films.
- #026
Khan was the first choice for the role of Samar Anand because of his long-standing relationship with the production company and the Chopra family.
- #027
Khan arrived in London on 21 February 2012 and completed the shoot on 26 March 2012.
- #028
Rahman stated that for 'Ishq Dance' and 'Ishq Shava' he combined tribal and contemporary styles with acoustic rather than the trans or dubstep genre. The song's preludes feature more strummed Spanish guitars.
- #029
Yash Chopra made a film in which Lata Mangeshkar did not sing a single song for the first time; otherwise, all the songs in a Yash Chopra film are usually sung by Lata Mangeshkar, and sometimes Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra also sings for her husband's film.
- #030
Chopra said that, similar to his previous project 'Veer-Zaara' (which was named on the day it was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification), the film had no title at the time of the announcement.
- #031
During filming, leaked photographs of the actors on set prompted the producers to ban cameras and increase security.
- #032
The trailer gives away nothing about the film's main idea.
- #033
Some portions of Jab Tak Hai Jaan were shot in three cities in Kashmir: Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg.
- #034
It was Chopra's fourth film starring Shah Rukh Khan.
- #035
The film was released over the six-day Diwali weekend that began on 13 November 2012.
- #036
The producers considered a number of games but were not satisfied with any of them.
- #037
Although casting was completed quickly, filming was delayed because the lead actors were busy with other projects.
- #038
Neetu Singh Kapoor was seen in a film after many years.
- #039
It marked the second collaboration between Khan and Sharma, who had previously appeared together in another Yash Raj film, "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" (2008).
- #040
The film's title was decided in September 2012, only two months before its release.
- #041
As in his previous productions, Yash Chopra wanted to present a fresh pairing in the film and chose Katrina Kaif to star opposite Khan.
- #042
Many locations in the city appear in the film, including Borough Market, the Jubilee Walkway, the Grand Conservatory, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Hungerford Bridge and the Golden Jubilee Bridges, the O2 Arena, Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.
- #043
A dance scene was shot beside the King's College London law faculty at Somerset House.
- #044
Samar's car accident scene was filmed in Shepherd's Bush, with four streets in the area closed off.
- #045
Filming wrapped on 27 March 2012 at an indoor location in East London.
- #046
Singer Neeti Mohan made her debut as a playback singer with the song "Jiya Re".
- #047
Neetu Singh Kapoor is shown as Kaif's estranged mother. During the film's production, Kaif was dating her son, Ranbir Kapoor.
- #048
The title was inspired by a similarly titled song from 'Sholay' (1975).
- #049
Kaif worked hard to make her character convincing, with help from Khan, who had prior experience with the director.
- #050
Pangong Lake in Ladakh is the ice-cold river in which SRK rescues a drowning Anushka Sharma in the film.
- #051
Filming began on 9 January 2012.
- #052
The lead trio would go on to work together again in "Zero" (2018).
- #053
The film's Blu-ray Disc release featured Dolby TrueHD 96k sampling, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby surround 5.1 sound, along with two bonus DVDs. The discs contained four hours of extras, including the making of the film and its songs, an interview with Chopra and Khan, deleted scenes, videos of Khan learning to play the guitar and ride a bicycle, and a preview from the film's premiere, held at a vintage theatre specially built at Yash Raj Studios.
- #054
The soundtrack contains nine songs, eight of them written by Gulzar and the title song by Aditya Chopra.
- #055
Speaking about "Saans", Rahman said the rough version of the song was initially composed with dummy lyrics. He added that the song foregrounds traditional rhythms, which he considered an advantage.
- #056
According to the film's story, the song "Saans" needed a tension exemplified by tense violins. As Samar helps Meera rekindle her bond with her mother, Meera learns more about love through her mother. This leads Meera to reciprocate her feelings for Samar, expressed in the song "Saans".
- #057
Chopra said "Challa" was his favourite selection from the album and even recited a few lines of it.
- #058
On what would have been Chopra's 80th birthday, Khan paid tribute to him at an event for the film by reciting the song 'Challa'.
- #059
This was Yash Chopra's last film with Yash Raj Films before his death on 21 October 2012. After his death, Yash Raj Films would serve as the presenter of his upcoming films.
- #060
A. R. Rahman recreated the Jab Tak Hai Jaan title song to produce "Tum Tak" for Raanjhanaa. Both songs had portions similar to R. D. Burman's Padosan hit "Main Chali".
- #061
It is the last film of Yash Chopra, who died 23 days before its release.
- #062
After '3 Idiots' (2009) and 'My Name Is Khan' (2010), it emerged as the third highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas at that time.
- #063
The film was being shot under the working title Production 45.
- #064
Principal photography began on 9 January 2012 at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, where a significant portion of the film was shot.
- #065
A. R. Rahman signed on in May 2011 to compose the film's music.
- #066
It was selected for the Doha Tribeca Film Festival and the Marrakech International Film Festival.
- #067
Rahman summed up the soundtrack album with the words: "It's a combination. They wanted songs in my style, and they also wanted the old-world charm and spirit of the music that Indian listeners would love and that I had wanted to make for a long time."
- #068
Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif would work together again in Zero (2018), but they have no screen time together.
- #069
Yash Chopra said: "And before I started Veer-Zaara, everything was ready for Maine Toh Mohabbat Ki Hai, but then Adi showed me three scenes he had written on a completely different subject. Those three scenes were so good that we had to develop them right away, and the result was Veer-Zaara. My next film will be the script I set aside, but after a three-year gap it needs to be updated, with a few deletions and additions (this turned out to be Jab Tak Hai Jaan). My scripts develop after an exchange of ideas and endless discussions; since I am not computer-savvy, they have to be written by others."
- #070
The film was released in cinemas in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
- #071
The shooting schedule was changed because Khan, who was working on other projects at the time, was not available.
- #072
The first song of the soundtrack was completed in December 2011.
- #073
The repeat version of the song "Saans" is positioned around Meera and Samar reuniting after 10 years.
- #074
The guitar melody at 1:33 of the (audio version of the) song "Jiya Re" resembles the guitar melody at 1:04 of Redbone's "Come Get Your Love" (audio version). The opening guitar sound of "Come and Get Your Love" was used as inspiration for the guitar sound of Star's (1982) song "Muskuraye Jaa".
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