When Deepika Padukone snubbed Kareena Kapoor for wanting to star opposite Saif Ali Khan in Love Aaj Kal: ‘Ridiculous to expect to do every film with boyfriend’

Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 film Love Aaj Kal was produced by Saif Ali Khan, who also played the lead role. Although Saif wanted to cast his then-girlfriend Kareena Kapoor, Imtiaz had his eyes set on Deepika Padukone for the role.

Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 film Love Aaj Kal starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone.

Before Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor introduced “The Breakup Song” as the party anthem for the broken-hearted in the 2016 film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone’s Jai and Meera hosted a party to celebrate their amicable breakup in 2009’s Love Aaj Kal. This Imtiaz Ali classic was among the first films to introduce a new set of rules for the dating world, where couples don’t wallow in sorrow when a relationship doesn’t work out but motivate each other to move on and find new partners.

Love Aaj Kal features a brilliant plot where two love stories from different generations play out simultaneously, each giving perspective on love and life in different eras. Rishi Kapoor’s character throws shade at the practical modern relationship of Jai and Meera, calling it frivolous, while narrating his own ‘pure’ love story, one where a ‘pehli nazar’ is enough to vow to live or die together. Jai, in response, laughs at Rishi’s commitment, finding it impossible to take marriage seriously. He lives in an age where convinience, and not passion, determines love.

Yet, from the title itself, ‘Love Aaj Kal’ remains relevant for all times. The dating dictionary may have been updated with new lingo like ‘situationship,’ ‘ghosting,’ and ‘benching,’ but the essence of true love remains the same through generations. After fighting their desire to be together for ‘practical reasons’, when Jai and Meera finally reunite on screen and the peppy tunes of “Twist” plays, you know they deserve it and it was worth fighting for.

 Saif Ali Khan in a still from Love Aaj Kal.Love Aaj Kal was Imtiaz Ali’s third film, coming right after he delivered the iconic Jab We Met. While it’s challenging to deliver a masterpiece, it’s even tougher to top one. But Imtiaz was unfazed, saying in an interview with indianexpress.com, “The expectations, if there are any, are from me.” Apart from Imtiaz’s credibility, a lot was riding on Love Aaj Kal, including the film’s lead actor Saif Ali Khan’s money, as he turned producer with this film.

While fans of the film can’t imagine anyone else playing the role of Meera other than Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan initially wanted his then-girlfriend, Kareena Kapoor, to play the lead opposite him. The actor even spoke to Imtiaz Ali for this. Kareena, whose career took off after playing Geet in Jab We Met, was eager to star in another Imtiaz Ali film and was confident of getting the role since her boyfriend was producing it. However, Imtiaz had his eyes set on Deepika Padukone for the role even before she made her Bollywood debut in Om Shanti Om.

In various past interviews, Deepika revealed that Imtiaz Ali approached her for Love Aaj Kal during her modelling days. At that time, she refused, stating that she wasn’t interested in acting. Imtiaz told her that the role would be waiting for her whenever she decided to join films. After making her debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om, she decided to star in Love Aaj Kal.

 Deepika Padukone in a still from love Aaj Kal.While Imtiaz was fixated on casting Deepika, Kareena Kapoor openly expressed her disappointment on losing out on Love Aaj Kal during an award function. When asked if he was flattered by Kareena’s willingness to work with him, Imtiaz revealed he wasn’t pleased with her statement. He said, “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.”

In a conversation with Filmfare, Deepika was asked about Kareena’s desire to be part of the film. She responded, “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, who was dating Kareena’s cousin Ranbir Kapoor at the time, added, “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.” However, she quickly added that she ‘understood’ where Kareena was coming from, given that her career had taken off after starring in Imtiaz’s Jab We Met.

Saif also supported the idea of casting Kareena but, being a director’s actor, he had to defer to Imtiaz’s decision. Reflecting on this, he told Zoom, “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.”