Ali Fazal on Meeting Tom Cruise: ‘It Was Nice to See Him Bring the Whole Industry Together’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Ali Fazal believes that Shah Rukh Khan and Tom Cruise played a pivotal role in restoring audiences’ faith in the theatrical experience at a time when cinemas were struggling to recover after the pandemic.

Speaking about the post-pandemic box office, Fazal reflects on how Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster “Jawan” reignited the Indian theatrical business, drawing comparisons with Cruise’s impact in Hollywood through the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. “Shah Rukh sir brought in ‘Jawan’ and then suddenly you felt like the gates opened back to the theatres. It was so weird because around the same time, or maybe a little before that, Tom Cruise did that with ‘Mission: Impossible.’”

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The actor also recalled meeting Cruise during an Academy luncheon, where he witnessed firsthand the Hollywood star’s influence within the global film community. “I actually met him during the Academy. We were having a luncheon, and it was so nice to just see him bring the whole industry together in that room,” Fazal says. “Even though he’s probably hardly been nominated for all these things, you could tell everybody got pulled in.”

For Fazal, both actors represent the kind of star power that transcends individual films and benefits the industry as a whole. “That’s what happened here,” he says, referring to Shah Rukh Khan’s impact on the Indian box office. “I’m really glad. I hope that keeps happening so that the rest can happen, so that all of us can experiment a little more.” According to Fazal, when event films succeed in bringing audiences back to theatres, they create opportunities for filmmakers and actors to back more diverse and ambitious storytelling.