In the beginning, Kareena Kapoor was supposed to make her Bollywood debut in Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, opposite Hrithik Roshan. Instead, she made her debut in Refugee, alongside Abhishek Bachchan, in 2000. After a few days of filming, she left from the project, and Ameesha Patel took her place. In an interview, Ameesha said that the filmmaker told her something else, refuting previous rumours that Kareena’s mother instructed her to quit the project because she wasn’t happy with how it was going.
In an interview, Ameesha said, “Actually, she didn’t back out. From what Rakesh ji told me, he asked her to leave the film because they were having differences. And Pinkie aunty, his wife and Hrithik’s mom, said that they were shocked because the set was ready, and a replacement Sonia had to be found in three days, and crores of rupees (had been spent) on that set, and it was Hrithik’s debut and everyone was really stressed. Pinky aunty told me that the day Rakesh saw me at the wedding, he did not sleep all night. He was like ‘I got my Sonia, I got my Sonia, but I hope she says yes’.”
She added, “Rakesh uncle always says, ‘This girl paid attention to everything I taught her on sets.’ He always praises me and says I was a blessing in disguise.” Ameesha said that Rakesh first met her at a wedding when she was just a teenager, and told her that when she’s old enough, he’d cast her in a film.
Kareena had said that she is ‘glad’ she did not do the film. “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. So, I’m glad I didn’t do the film.”
Ameesha is currently enjoying Gadar 2’s success. On the other side, Kareena will soon be featured in the thriller Netflix film Jaane Jaan.
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