Samar Anand (Shah Rukh Khan), a major in the Indian Army, defuses a bomb without fear or regard for his safety. Akira Rai (Anushka Sharma), a Discovery Channel filmmaker, later dives into a river in Ladakh and is rescued by him. Samar gives her his jacket and leaves before retrieving it. Akira finds his diary in the jacket pocket and begins reading.

The diary recounts Samar's earlier years as a struggling immigrant in London, working as a street musician who performs other menial jobs to support himself and his roommate Zain (Sharib Hashmi). Samar is working part-time as a waiter when he meets Meera (Katrina Kaif) at her and her fiancé Roger's engagement party. Meera grew up, motherless, in an affluent Christian Indian family; her mother (Neetu Singh) left for another man (Rishi Kapoor) when she was twelve. The dominant person in her life is her father (Anupam Kher), for whose company she works. Samar notices that Meera often prays when he sees her at the church. Samar and Meera begin to fall in love after a night of wild street dancing. To face her past, Samar takes Meera to visit her estranged mother and they reconcile. Some days later Meera decides to confess to her father about her relationship with Samar and break her engagement, Samar has a serious accident on his motorbike. Meera prays to God to save his life, promising never to see him again. Samar recovers, and Meera admits her vow to him. Angry, he leaves her and London. Samar challenges God to keep him alive while he risks his life every day, because he believes his death is the only way to make Meera lose her faith in God. He goes to India and enlists in the army, becoming a bomb-disposal expert.

When Akira finishes reading the diary, she obtains permission to make a documentary about a bomb-disposal squad. She asks Samar for help to make her film and becomes acquainted with him and his team. Akira develops a crush on Samar; however, he does not reciprocate because of his unresolved love for Meera. Akira makes a successful film and leaves for London. She wants Samar to visit the city to help her publicise the film; after he reluctantly agrees to come to London, he is struck by a car.

Samar is diagnosed with retrograde amnesia, and he remembers only the events before his first accident a decade ago. Concerned, Akira tracks Meera down and persuades her to aid in Samar's recovery. Meera agrees, pretending to be Samar's wife. In the meantime, Akira realises that Major Samar is only a fragment of the young Samar; he used to be happy and sociable, but is now bitter and lonely. One day Samar finds a bomb planted in the London Underground, and helps defuse it. The event jogs his memory, and he realises that Meera was lying to him. Samar confronts Meera with a choice: to be with him, or see him keep risking his life until he is dead. He then leaves for Kashmir, where he continues defusing bombs. During a conversation with Akira, Meera realises that her beliefs and prayers subjected Samar to a fate worse than death; realising her mistake, she goes to Kashmir and they reunite. Samar defuses his last bomb, and then proposes to her.

• Shah Rukh Khan as Major Samar Anand, a soldier for the Bomb Disposal Squad
• Katrina Kaif as Meera Thapar, a businesswoman who falls in love with Samar
• Anushka Sharma as Akira Rai, a documentary filmmaker for Discovery Channel
• Sarika as Dr. Zoya Ali Khan, the doctor who helps Samar get well
• Prerak Patel as Frank, Samar's boss
• Sharib Hashmi as Zain, Samar's best friend and roommate
• Jahidul Islam Shuvo as Major's friend
• Jasmine Jardot as Maria, Zain's wife
• Gireesh Sahedev as Captain Jagdeep Deewan
• Amarinder Sodhi as Captain Kamal Singh
• Varun Thakur as Lieutenant Hari Krishnan
• Jay Conroy as Roger
• Anupam Kher as Mr Thapar, Meera's father (Special Appearance)
• Rishi Kapoor as Imraan, Meera's step-father (Special Appearance)
• Neetu Singh as Pooja, Meera's mother (Special Appearance)

In June 2011, Yash Raj Films released a statement announcing a new directorial venture by Yash Chopra coinciding with the 50th anniversary of his Bollywood career. The producers also announced that the film would be released during the Diwali 2012 weekend. Chopra said the film was untitled at that time, similar to previous project Veer-Zaara (which was named on the day of its submission to the Central Board of Film Certification). The producers considered a number of titles but were not satisfied with any of them. In September 2012, it was announced that the title of the film was Jab Tak Hai Jaan. It was inspired by a similarly titled song from the 1975 film, Sholay.

Aditya Chopra wanted his father, Yash Chopra, to make another film and approached him with the concept for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Shah Rukh Khan was their first choice for the role of Samar Anand, due to his long-standing relationship with the production house and the Chopra family. Khan, who was working on other projects at that time, was unavailable for the shooting schedule so it was changed. As in his previous productions, Yash Chopra wanted to introduce a fresh pairing in Jab Tak Hai Jaan and chose Katrina Kaif to star with Khan. Anushka Sharma was cast in a supporting role to complete her three-film contract with Yash Raj Films, with whom she had worked on many previous projects. Though casting was quickly completed, shooting was delayed because the lead actors were busy with other projects.

Khan's role spans two ages: one (age 28) as a London-based street musician and the other (ten years later) as an introverted, composed and dutiful army officer in Kashmir. In an interview, Khan revealed details about his character: Samar is "angry, unforgiving, with loads of emotional baggage. I play him sweet when he needs to be. Actually, he is a lot like I am. Samar is a combination of angst, tenderness, anger, and yeah, he’s pretty unforgiving."

Kaif's role was described as "the archetypal Yash Chopra seductress, an unattainable beauty". She worked hard to make her character believable (with help from Khan, who had previous experience with the director). Sharma's character, Akira, was described as a "21-year-old who works for the Discovery Channel and makes documentaries. She is on a quest to discover the truth behind the story of The Man Who Cannot Die (Samar Anand) in the film. She is extremely ambitious and will do anything to make it big and realize her dreams."

Filming

The film's principal photography was expected to begin in November 2011 but was delayed because Khan wanted to take a break after his two previous films, Ra.One and Don 2. Principal photography began on 9 January 2012 at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, where a significant part of was shot.

After filming in India, the crew began a 35-day shooting schedule in London on 22 February 2012. It was shot under the working title Production 45. Khan arrived in London on 21 February 2012, and finished filming on 26 March 2012. During the filming, photos of the actors on-set were leaked on the Internet, triggering a camera ban by the producers and increased security. A number of locations throughout the city featured in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, including the Borough Market, Jubilee Walkway, the Great Conservatory, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Bridge, Trafalgar Square, the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, the O2 Arena, the Tower Bridge, and Canary Wharf. A dance sequence was filmed next to King's College London law school in Somerset House. A car-crash scene was filmed at Shepherd's Bush by closing four streets in the area. Filming was completed on 27 March 2012 at an indoor location in East London.

The romantic scenes were directed by Chopra's son, Aditya, to give them a more contemporary feel. The "Ishq Shava" dance scene was shot with the leading duo and freestyle dancers in an underground club and aboard a boat on the River Thames. The film's climax, initially planned by Chopra to be shot in the mountains of Kashmir, was moved to Ladakh. This was reportedly suggested by Khan, whose Dil Se.. was shot in the area many years earlier. Portions of Jab Tak Hai Jaan were filmed in three Kashmiri cities: Srinagar, Pahalgam, and Gulmarg.

Yash Chopra wanted to add scenes from the Swiss Alps to the title song; however, the scheduled shoot was cancelled after his death. Aditya Chopra wanted to keep the film as it was because he felt that doing otherwise would "tamper" with his father's vision.

The music for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, who teamed up with Yash Chopra for the first time. He signed to compose the soundtrack in May 2011. The first song of the soundtrack was completed in December 2011. By February 2012, Rahman said in an interview with The Times of India that he had completed three songs for the film. He summarized the soundtrack album: "It's a combination. They wanted to do my kind of songs at the same time they wanted the old charm and soul of music that Indian audience would love and which I wanted to do for a long time." The soundtrack features nine songs, with eight lyrics by Gulzar and the title track written by Aditya Chopra. It was released by YRF Music on 9 October 2012.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan was released on 600 screens in overseas markets; the estimated number of release screens in India was about 2,500. Yash Raj Films distributed the film to 1,000 multiplexes and 1,500 single-screen cinemas. Jab Tak Hai Jaan was selected for the Doha Tribeca Film Festival and the Marrakech International Film Festival. It was chosen to "honour the legacy" of Yash Chopra, since it was his last project.

Controversy

Two weeks before Jab Tak Hai Jaan's release, Ajay Devgn FFilms sent a notice to the Competition Commission of India accusing Yash Raj Films of monopolistic business practices; the notice contended that they used "their dominant position in the Bollywood film market" to secure many desirable single-screen theatres for their release. Yash Raj Films responded by saying that they were "shocked" and questioned Devgn's "motives". The studio denied Devgn's claim that high-quality single-screens were unavailable, pointing out that they had only booked 1,500 single-screens for Jab