Mumbai: Actress Rani Mukerji, who won the IIFA for the Best Actress for her work in the movie ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway’, was once upset with the Bollywood multi-hyphenate Karan Johar for not offering her the lead role in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’.
An old video from KJo’s chat show ‘Koffee With Karan’ shows KJo, Rani, and Kareena Kapoor Khan talking about the movie and how it affected their personal equation.
Rani said, “To be honest, when I first got to know about it, I didn’t get to know it from you. So that is what hurt me. Like, I’m so close to you, like, you know, I feel that even if you make a film, you can always discuss it with me, whether you’re taking me, whether you’re taking somebody else, because I share that comfort level with you.”
She further mentioned, “But then when you didn’t come to me and talk to me about it, and I heard it from somebody else, I was like, why didn’t Karan come and take me? Because, you know, you and me don’t have that relationship. Where I might feel bad or, you know, like, my friendship with you level. I remember I did go and cry in front of Aamir Khan.”
The role was eventually offered to Preity Zinta who became an overnight star with the film.
‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ also starred Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Saif Ali Khan with Sushma Seth, Reema Lagoo, Lillete Dubey, and Delnaaz Irani in supporting roles.
In the film, Naina (played by Preity Zinta) and Aman Mathur (played by SRK) fall in love, but a secret prevents him from reciprocating his feelings and results in a plan to set Naina up with her best friend, Rohit Patel (played by Saif).
The film was a major success at the box office.
