Did You Know Imtiaz Ali Wanted To Make 'Jab We Met' With Bobby Deol? Here's Why It Went To Shahid Kapoor

In an interview, director Imtiaz Ali revealed that 'Jab We Met' was first offered to Bobby Deol. He was the first choice of Imtiaz to play Shahid Kapoor's character Aditya.

Outlook Entertainment Desk

Updated on: 4 December 2023 3:30 pm

Imtiaz Ali, Bobby Deol

Imtiaz Ali’s 2007 movie 'Jab We Met' starring Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan is one of the iconic movies. The romantic comedy was a blockbuster and is still etched in our memories. Shahid's character Aditya and Kareena's Geet were loved so much by the audience. Did you know that Shahid was not the first choice to play Aditya in the movie? Yes, you read it right! Imtiaz's first choice was Bobby Deol.

Imtiaz first offered 'Jab We Met' to Bobby as he was his good friend. As he kept delaying the film, the role went to Shahid.

In an interview with Lallantop, the 'Tamasha' director had said, “I was planning to make Jab We Met with Bobby Deol. When I was making this film, Bobby and I were very good friends. His family… they are very nice people. But Socha Na Tha took five years to make and release. Meanwhile, I was trying to start a new film so Bobby was going to do Jab We Met. Then Socha Na Tha got over but I still didn’t make the film for two years because I wanted Bobby to start it (Jab We Met).”

He added that Bobby was getting other offers from big directors, so he was waiting for that to happen and kept postponing his film. Then a time came when he didn't find it correct because a lot of time passed. ''Because I did Socha Na Tha for five years and I didn’t do a film for two years after that, it was putting financial strain on me. Then I told Bobby, ‘Let’s not make this film. Let’s shake our hands and decide we will not do this film together because then our thing will be affected,'' said Imtiaz.

Earlier, in 2017, in an interview with HuffPost Bobby had said, "I read that Ashtavinayak has signed Imtiaz for Jab We Met and Kareena is doing the film! And she had gotten her then-boyfriend, Shahid Kapoor to act opposite her. I was like, wow. Quite an industry. We were also to do Highway together but he again did his own thing. But I have no hard feelings against him. He is a great director and doing so well. We're still friends. But I always tell him: 'Imtiaz, I won't watch any of your films until you make one with me. That'll be your best film."

Bobby is currently basking in the success of 'Animal' that has taken the box office by storm.