Bobby Deol reveals how Shahid and Kareena Kapoor took away ‘Jab We Met’ from him

In Bollywood, sometimes the biggest heartbreaks don’t come from love stories but from missed opportunities. For Bobby Deol, one of those moments was when he lost out on ‘Jab We Met’. It was a film he had once believed was meant for him.

In a recent chat with podcaster Raj Shamani, Bobby shared how the project slipped away from his hands. Back in the mid-2000s, when his career wasn’t going too well, Bobby saw a rough cut of Imtiaz Ali’s debut film ‘Socha Na Tha’.

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The film impressed him so much that he immediately decided he wanted to work with Imtiaz. “I was bowled over. I told him I wanted to work with him no matter what,” Bobby recalled.

At that time, Imtiaz had written a film titled ‘Geet’, which later became ‘Jab We Met’. Bobby took the script to producers and even reached out to top actresses to play the lead. “I sent it to Kareena Kapoor. She sweetly heard it but said no. Later, I asked Preity Zinta, but she said she could only do it after six months,” he explained.

But fate had other plans. The same producers who earlier rejected Imtiaz eventually backed him, and this time with Kareena Kapoor on board. Shahid Kapoor was going to play the male lead, a role Bobby had believed was his from the start.

And with time, the film went on to become one of the most loved romantic comedies in Hindi cinema.

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For Bobby, the loss was deeply personal. “I was heartbroken, I had no work. I thought the role was mine. It was a time when I wasn’t getting good films. The ones I did get were the typical Bollywood movies with no real spark,” he said.

Still, Bobby insists he holds no bitterness toward Imtiaz. “I have nothing against him. I love the guy. He is one of the most talented directors in the industry. But at that moment in his career, he must have been insecure and had to make choices. It just happened in a bad way,” he admitted.

Bobby also revealed that the film was originally titled ‘Geet’ because the story was centered around Kareena Kapoor’s character.

While the role eventually launched Shahid Kapoor into a new phase of stardom and gave Bollywood one of its most iconic love stories, Bobby chose to accept the turn of events as destiny. “It was not meant to be. But at that time, it really broke my heart,” he said.