New Delhi: The romantic-drama ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ has an ensemble cast that includes Saif Ali Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan. Fans and members of the film community gather to commemorate the film’s 20th anniversary today and pay tribute to its lasting impact. Today, we will find out who was the original pick for the female lead in the film directed by Nikkhil Advani.
Producer Karan Johar first offered the role of Naina to Kareena Kapoor Khan, but Preity Zinta was the second option. He didn’t pick the actress because she wanted the same fees as Shah Rukh Khan. As a result, they drifted apart and were incommunicado for 18 months, during which time Karan’s father Yash Johar received a cancer diagnosis.
Karan, in his book ‘An Unsuitable Boy’, discussed the same topic, “The weekend of Mujhse Dosti Karoge’s release, I offered her Kal Ho Naa Ho, and she asked for the same money that Shah Rukh Khan was getting. I said, ‘Sorry’ I was very hurt. I told my father, ‘Leave that negotiation room’ and I called her.”
Karan added, “She didn’t take my call, and I said, ‘We’re not taking her.’ And we signed Preity Zinta instead. Kareena and I didn’t speak to each other for almost a year.”
He went on to say that Kareena attempted to make up with Yash Johar in 2003 when he was in New York for cancer treatment, but that they didn’t really put their differences aside until after his father died in June 2004.
During Preity Zinta’s appearance on one of the previous seasons ‘Koffee With Karan’, Karan Johar asked her thoughts on playing the role of Kareena Kapoor in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. Since Preity Zinta responded beautifully, saying: “I don’t feel anything. I have a very simple logic. Suppose you go to a store and decide to try a pair of jeans. It fits you well, but you don’t buy them doesn’t mean they are your jeans. It belongs to the next person who comes, tries them on, and buys them.”
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