The film was first announced in November 2014.Writer-director Karan Johar.the idea for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil came to him and he wrote the screenplay in 30 days.Johar stated that he was motivated to cast Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.Principal photography began in September 2015 with Kapoor and Sharma in London.
"I have always felt that the best way to express your patriotism is through love. And that’s what I have always tried to portray through my work and my cinema. When I shot my film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil from September to December last year, the climate was completely different. The circumstances were completely different."
— Karan Johar speaking about the film in a video statement