Ibrahim Ali Khan reacts to Nadaaaniyan backlash, says it was not meant 'to be some grand film': 'They tried to...'

Ibrahim Ali Khan, son of Saif Ali Khan and his ex-wife Amrita Singh, made his acting debut in the teen romantic comedy Nadaaniyan, that was a direct-to-digital release and premiered on the OTT platform Netflix in March 2025. The film had Khushi Kapoor as the leading lady and also starred veteran stars Mahima Chaudhry, Suniel Shetty, Jugal Hansraj, and Dia Mirza in supporting roles. It was directed by Shauna Gautam in her directorial debut and produced by Karan Johar under Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital division under Dharma Productions. Nadaaniyan received negative reviews from the critics and was excessively trolled on social media, particulary for the "terrible" performances of Ibrahim and Khushi.

Now, in his first ever interview, Ibrahim Ali Khan has reviewed his own film as he told Filmfare, "People go into the film with very high expectations of what it should be. It was not to be some grand film. It was meant to be a sweet, breezy rom-com that you should enjoy on a Friday night, chilling in bed. Social media is a hateful world, right now. They tried to twist it a lot. Sure, as a lead actor, I have to bring in loads more than what I did. I know I can bring it and I am confident that I will bring it in my future projects. But I’m happy with what it was. I worked with hardworking people and we made a sweet film. I get the criticism but I enjoyed working on it. It was meant to be sweet and breezy. I would say it’s good."

When he was further asked how would he rate his own performance, the new star kid further added, "There’s always scope to do better, be better. But where I am right now, I am happy. Out of five stars? I don’t know. A three? Yeah, three, three point five. Don’t fly too high but don’t diss yourself either." Sharing how he reacted to the negative reviews of his debut movie, Ibrahim concluded, "I’ve seen the mixed reviews on social media, they do fry your brains a bit. Obviously, most of them are bad because that’s just how social media works. But I’m glad that a lot of people can see what I may be able to bring to the table. I’m happy with the response I got from the film industry. I’m quite pleased."

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