Director Karan Johar who is currently hosting the Indian Idol 12, opened up his box of secrets and anecdotes and to everyone’s surprise, the moviemaker slipped a rather flabbergasting secret. The multi-starrer, 2001 ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ which turned 19 this year and starred great B-town actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, and Kareena Kapoor were all sign cast in 24 hours! Rani Mukerji too had played a pivotal role in the film.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ emerged to be an iconic film and was a massive commercial success not only in the country but overseas as well during its time. The film was released on December 14, 2001. Retweeting a video shared by his production house, Karan wrote on Twitter, “We are eternally grateful for the abundant love that continues to come our way! Thank you so much #19YearsOfK3G.”
KJo revealed that he began with Amitabh Bachchan. He went to his residence and narrated the script. The megastar agreed to do the film. He then stepped out of the Bachchans’ place and called Jaya Bachchan if she could meet him. KJo said, “I first went to Amit ji’s house, respect wise, Jaya aunty was also there as well. She didn’t know why I was visiting Amit uncle. I narrated the script, he said, ‘Of course, I’m doing this.’”
“I then walked out of the house outside the gate I called Jaya aunty, informing her that I wanted to meet her. She said, ‘Arre but you were just here.’ I said, ‘I came to meet Amit Ji. But now, I want to officially meet you.’ I went back in and offered the film.”
Following this, Johar went over to his close pal and superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s residence, Mannat. SRK agreed to come on board without even having KJo to narrate the script. He said, “As soon as I said (about the film), he said, ‘You don’t even have to narrate it to me, I’m doing the film.’ We have that brother-like bond.”
However, Johar was skeptical if Kajol would give a nod, as she was newly-wed. But he still went ahead and met her, only to have tears rolling down her cheeks. Kajol gave a nod to play Anjali on screen. “Two minutes after I narrated the script and her character, she broke down. She said, ‘I cannot make anybody else do this film and I will delay my decisions of life but I will do this film,” with the two hugging and crying.
Hrithik Roshan was signed for this mega-blockbuster even before his debut movie, Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai had released. And lastly, he signed his closest pal and the most popular character of the movie, Poo, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan. Johar reached Bebo’s residence at 10 pm on the same day and offered her K3G.
However, a cute fun fact is Shah Rukh’s elder son Aryan Khan who is yet to make his film debut had made a guest appearance in this movie as a child. He was seen in the opening credits as the young Shah Rukh, who played the role of Rahul Raichand.
