MUMBAI: Kareena Kapoor Khan is synonymous with Geet. The Bhatinda Sikhni jo ‘Apni favorite’ hai. Jab We Met is a classic rom-com helmed by Imtiaz Ali, and the film, which starred Shahid Kapoor as well, won millions of hearts with a phenomenal storyline and chartbuster songs. But what if we tell you that our classic Bebo was never the OF choice for this classic.

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This film was being nurtured by Imtiaz Ali since the time he was working on his debut film Socha Na Tha, which starred Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. Since the film starred a Deol son, it was produced by Vijayta Films, the Deol family’s production house.

While Deols gave Imtiaz a break in the industry, his film was well appreciated. It was during that time Bobby Deol heard the story for Jab We Met and was very keen to star in the film. The only difference is that it wasn’t titled Jab We Met then. After Bobby Deol came on board, his first choice of actress was Preity Zinta, who shared a great chemistry with him on-screen and off-screen. She had to reject the film due to dates and once called it a Karmic connection with Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Preity Zinta, during a media interaction, once said how Kareena could not do Kal Ho Naa Ho, which landed in her lap, and how she couldn’t do Jab We Met, which landed in Kareena’s lap. However, the film still did not land at Kareena’s filmography.

In fact, after the Veer Zaara actress had to pull out, the film went to Bhumika Chawla, who signed it along with Bobby Deol, but soon the production house changed, and the next thing everyone knew was that Ayesha Takia was playing Geet.

But it seems that a character chooses its actor. So finally, the film went to Kareena Kapoor Khan as Imtiaz Ali thought she would look natural without makeup and would best suit the part. In fact, the next thing Bobby Deol knew was that instead of him, Shahid Kapoor was doing the film. In fact, in an interview with HuffPost, he even admitted that he was removed without being informed!

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Coming to the name of the film, when it starred Bobby Deol and the other actors, it was titled Train. However, when the film was launched, it was titled Geet Ready. After that, Imtiaz even pondered upon ‘Punjab Mail’ and ‘Ishq Via Bhatinda’ before he finally settled for Jab We Met!

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Credits - koimoi