When Kareena Kapoor said she’s ‘glad’ she quit Hrithik Roshan’s Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai: ‘His dad spent five hours on every close-up of his’

In an old interview, Kareena Kapoor said that she wouldn't want to work with filmmakers like David Dhawan, because she wants to be taken seriously as an actor.

Kareena Kapoor was last seen in Laal Singh Chaddha.

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Actor Kareena Kapoor is now more restrained when she speaks in public, but there was a time when she, like most of the industry, didn’t hold back in interviews. In a memorable chat with Filmfare in 2000, Kareena spoke about everything from her beef with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, her desire to distance herself from the kind of films her sister Karisma was known for, her distaste for Salman Khan’s acting, and dropping out of Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai.

Kareena debuted in 2000 with the film Refugee, opposite Abhishek Bachchan. But before that, she was supposed to star opposite Hrithik Roshan in the film Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. After shooting for it briefly, her mother Babita decided to pull her out of the project, and she was replaced by Ameesha Patel.

Also read | When Sanjay Leela Bhansali said Kareena Kapoor lashed out at him for not casting her in Devdas: ‘She said I don’t know how to make films’

Speaking with Filmfare, Kareena said that she would have definitely become a star if she hadn’t left the project, but she wanted to be known as an ‘actress’ instead. She elaborated, “The film was made for Hrithik. His dad spent five hours on every frame and close-up of his, whereas not even five seconds were spent on Ameesha. There are portions in the film where she has pimples and under-eye bags on her face. She just doesn’t look beautiful, but every shot of his was a dream. If I were in the film, I would have definitely got a better deal, but I still feel that the attention would have divided between us. So, I’m glad I didn’t do the film. I’m glad that even after I left the movie there is no problem between Hrithik and me. He’s still a friend, I’m very happy for his success and we are even working in two films together.”

In the same interview, Kareena also said that she wouldn’t want to work with directors like David Dhawan at the start of her career, even though his collaborations with Karisma made her a star. Kareena said that she isn’t at all like her sister, and that they’re ‘poles apart’. “My sister might have made her career with him, but I don’t want to. I’ll dare to be different,” she said, adding, “If doing good work means doing less work, then I’ll probably do less work. I only want to work with good makers.”

Giving more insight into what happened on the sets of Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, director Rakesh Roshan told The Quint in 2020, “Kareena’s mother Babita, who I have a lot of respect for, said, ‘Don’t begin with a song, she’s not ready. Start with dialogues’,” he said, adding, “Babita was a little adamant about it. So I said, ‘This way I cannot work because tomorrow you might say, don’t do this, don’t do that. I think it’s better we part ways because we are good friends.’ So we parted ways.”

Kareena and Hrithik went on to work in films such as Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and Mujhse Dosti Karoge!.

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