When Imtiaz Ali chose Deepika Padukone for Love Aaj Kal, it became a blockbuster hit, but Kareena Kapoor wasn’t happy.
When Imtiaz Ali chose Deepika Padukone for Love Aaj Kal, it became a blockbuster hit, but not everyone was thrilled. Kareena Kapoor, who was dating Saif Ali Khan, the film’s lead, didn’t hide her frustration about losing out on the role. She even called it out at an award function. Imtiaz wasn’t exactly happy with her public outburst, though. He had then told The Indian Express, “The thing with flattery is that you don’t recognise it when it happens. It was not a happy feeling when Kareena publicly said what she did. I felt bad because we had cleared the issue and I didn’t realise that she still felt so bad about it.”
Later, in a chat with Filmfare, Deepika Padukone was put on the spot about Kareena Kapoor’s wish to star in Love Aaj Kal. Deepika shrugged it off and said, “I don’t know about that. I never had this conversation with Saif, I never brought it up. But I do know for a fact that Imtiaz was always keen on working with me on this particular film. And it happened.”
Deepika said it was unrealistic to expect her boyfriend to be in every film she did. She said that directors pick actors based on their vision, and while she got why Kareena might feel that way, she thought it was absurd to assume her real-life boyfriend would always be her co-star. Deepika had said, “I don’t expect that every film I do has to be with my boyfriend. I think that’s a bit ridiculous. And I know as an actor I will have to work with different kinds of people. A director knows the kind of characters he wants in his film and the kind of actors who can play those characters. So it would be a bit ridiculous to expect that my real-life boyfriend will be my co-star in every film of mine.”
Saif backed the idea of casting Kareena, but as a director’s actor, he respected Imtiaz’s choice. In an interview with Zoom, he said, “When your personal and professional lives are mixed together, it is hard to clearly feel about things. Of course, I missed her a lot and I wish she was in the film, but you have to stay true to your director and this is the casting that he wanted and we followed that.”
Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are now married with two sons – Taimur and Jeh.
