DYK: Kareena Kapoor took on the role of Geet in Jab We Met at ex-beau Shahid Kapoor’s behest?
We don’t really need a reason to revisit Jab We Met (2007), but the film is back in the news. Not that it ever really left anyone’s conscience, given its cult status, but a recent comment on the presumed future of Geet and Aditya, dunked the internet into an abyss of nostalgia, albeit an upsetting one.
Nonetheless, did you know that taking up the role of Geet in the film, wasn’t an independent decision on Kareena’s part? As a matter of fact, it was Shahid who convinced her to not pass it up, despite the fact that director Imtiaz Ali, was very fresh on the scene at the time, with a rather lean body of work (here’s to 2005 release Socha Na Tha) as compared to his legacy now.
During an interview with Mid-Day late last year, Kareena said, “Imtiaz came out of the blue, and it so happened. He approached Shahid, and Shahid told me, ‘Hey, listen, you know, he’s going to approach you for this role, and it’s great.’ And I was like, yeah, I’ll work. I’ll do this movie. I never knew that it would be this iconic”.
Circling to Geet and Aditya’s grim future, during an interview with The Indian Express, Shahid agreed with Imtiaz’s previous remarks about the eternally-loved on-screen couple, as per which they were more likely than not to end up in a ‘divorce lawyer’s office’. He said, “That’s actually a fun idea that Geet and Aditya are now breaking up because they are frustrated with each other. Aditya is like, ‘She is her own favourite, who can ever put up with her?’ “. Gauging how the audience wasn’t exactly thrilled with this take, Shahid went on to clarify, “If our filmmaker thinks these two will divorce each other, then who am I to come in between? I am just an actor”.
Coming back to the throwback revelation, while of course it was Kareena who breathed life into the infectiously lovable character of Geet — essentially to the point of making her immortal — it seems like the real duo to thank are Shahid and Imtiaz.
