Bobby Deol opened up recently in an interview about not being cast in Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met and said that he was heartbroken when Shahid Kapoor was selected for the lead role alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan in the romantic-comedy.
During a conversation with Raj Shamani on his podcast, Bobby spoke openly about it and said, “I have nothing against Imtiaz. I love the guy; he’s one of the most talented directors we have in the industry. I guess, in that moment in his career, he was also insecure and had to make choices. But it happened in a bad way. I saw a rough cut of the first half of Socha Na Tha, and I was bowled over by the film. I met Imtiaz and told him that I want to work with him no matter what. He was probably the first director I said this to.”
He added, “I met some producers and they rejected Imtiaz for some reason. I sent him to Kareena Kapoor, but she sweetly heard it and said no. A year passed, and I asked Preity Zinta, but she said that she could do it only after six months. Sometime later, the same producers who rejected Imtiaz had hired him along with Kareena. Shahid Kapoor played the role I was supposed to play. The movie was called Geet originally, because it was her story. It was my destiny; I was not meant to be in it. But at that time, I was heartbroken. I had no work.”
In an earlier interview with Lallantop, Imtiaz had shared his version of events and said that Bobby caused a delay which left him with no choice but to make the film with another actor. “He kept postponing my film, but then a time came when I didn’t find it correct because a lot of time went by. Because I did Socha Na Tha for five years and I didn’t do a film for two years after that, so 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’”.
Bobby was recently seen in Aryan Khan’s The Ba***ds of Bollywood which was released on Netflix on September 18.
