13 Facts About ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ That Make The Film The Legend It Most Definitely Is

“Aaj ek hasi aur baant lo, aaj ek dua aur maang lo,  aaj ek ansoon aur pee lo, aaj ek zindagi aur jee lo,  aaj ek sapna aur dekh lo,  aaj … kya pata, kal ho naa ho…”

Got the feels, right? The 2003 Karan Johar dhamaka ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, directed by Nikhil Advani and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan is etched in our hearts, forever. Of course, we’ve seen it a zillion times and can watch it again. But, when we like a film so much, we sure like to know more about it, don’t we?

So, here are a few facts about KHNH we dug up for you.

1. It was supposed to be titled Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, but Karan Johar had a change of heart and reserved it for the 2006 film. Thank God!

 

2. Preity Zinta’s role was written keeping Kareena Kapoor Khan in mind. But because of Kareena’s high fee demand, it fell in Preity’s lap.

 

3. Jaya Bachchan’s role was offered to Neetu Singh and it was supposed to be her comeback of sorts. But as fate had it, it was Jaya who finally played Jennifer after Neetu Singh declined the role.

 

4. When Aman convinces Jenny to renovate the cafe and change it to ‘Cafe New Delhi’ and there’s a surge in customers, we bet you didn’t notice Farah Khan as one of the customers.

 

5. Where you see Naina running in the beginning of the film, it was actually a body double. Preity had fallen and injured herself while shooting. So, Nikhil Advani got a model to jog for the camera.

 

6. Saif Ali Khan’s role was offered to Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vivek Oberoi. But they all refused it.

 

7. Karan Johar complied with international copyright laws and bought the license to the rights to Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’ which is featured in the film because he wanted it real bad in the film. And, we’re so glad he did.

 

8. Not many know this, but it was a swan song of sorts for K-Jo’s father Yash Johar, who soon passed away shortly after the film’s release.

 

9. Remember Geeta? Rohit’s MBA classmate? It was none other than Vogue’s Fashion Director, Anaita Shroff Adajania.

 

10. We all loved Gia’s Loving Family line by Fisher Price doll-house and the Indianised costumes her dollies wore, right? Well, it was Preity Zinta who made the Indian modifications and designed the clothes for them.

 

11. There have been parts of the film that are shot in Toronto and not New York. It was done to bring down the production cost of the film. But it was originally supposed to be shot in Toronto only, but due to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) scare, parts were shot in NYC.

 

12. It was allegedly a remake of ‘Anand’ with SRK and Saif reprising the roles of Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan respectively. A modernised-Anand?

 

13. Telugu Director Krishna Vamsi was so impressed by film that he remade #KHNH in Telugu as ‘Chakram’ starring Prabhas.

How many did you know?

Cover Image Source