With the 2000 movie Kaho Naa, Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel made their acting debuts… Rakesh Roshan directed Pyaar Hai.
However, a lesser-known fact is that Kareena Kapoor was the original candidate for Ameesha Patel’s role in the film.
In reality, instead of JP Dutta’s Refugee with Abhishek Bachchan, the actress was meant to make her debut with the Hrithik Roshan movie.
Not only that, but she had also shot a couple sequences before Ameesha took her place.
Surprisingly, there is a long shot in the movie that depicts Kareena rather than Ameesha.
Following Ameesha’s addition as the lead actress, there were allegations that Kareena had opted to drop out due to Rakesh Roshan’s failure to provide her with a complete screenplay narration, among other things.
Rakesh Roshan later revealed in an interview that it was his decision to replace Kareena with Ameesha and that the reason for this was her mother Babita’s frequent intervention.
Rakesh revealed in a 2020 interview with The Quint that they were meant to start with a song and that a set was erected at Filmistan Studio.
Babita, on the other hand, approached Rakesh Roshan four days before the shoot and asked him to start with the talkie section first and shoot the song later.
“Don’t start with a song, she’s not ready,” he remarked, quoting Kareena’s mother Babita, whom he admires. Beginning with conversations is a good place to start.’ ‘No, Babita, I think a song will be better since she will be extremely recognisable to the entire unit,’ I remarked. It’ll be a lot less difficult. It’s a little more difficult to say speech and act than it is to lip-sync to a song. ‘Of course, we’ll educate her.’
“Babita was a little adamant about it,” he continued. ‘This way, I can’t work,’ I explained, ‘because tomorrow you might say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that.’ Because we are good friends, I believe it is best for us to split ways.’ As a result, we parted ways.”
Rakesh had expounded on what went wrong between him and Babita that led to Kareena’s dismissal from the film in a 1998 interview with G Magazine.
“It was I who decided to drop her, not the other way around,” he had said at the time. I have a lot to say, but I don’t want to because she is the daughter of one of my closest friends, Randhir. Babita should have been professional, given her background as an actor.
“It is false that she was not given narrative. I never sign an artist without a full narrative, and this is especially true if she is the heroine of my film. Three months ago, a complete narrative was completed. I wish Babita would stay out of her daughter’s work since she is causing her more harm than good. Kareena is a newcomer who deserves to be treated as such. Just though she’s Karisma’s sister doesn’t give her the authority she craves. In that instance, Hrithik can also imitate Rakesh Roshan’s behaviour. Babita insisted that her daughter be given precedence over my son. I’m not sure how I’m going to accomplish it. If Karisma had been the heroine, I would have done it. When it’s a home production, the hero is always the centre of attention.
“In the midst of all of this, I had to fly to Athens to finalise a ship we required for the shoot.” I told them to consider their options and report back to me when they had made a decision. There was no reaction when I returned. I was fatigued by then, so I decided it was best if we split ways.”
Kaho Naa was released on January 14, 2000. Pyaar Hai was a tremendous box office success, while Kareena Kapoor’s debut film Refugee, which was released on June 30, 2000, had a record-breaking opening but ultimately flopped.
