Jab We Met

<p>Aditya Kashyap is the heir to a wealthy but broken family. Depressed by his girlfriend’s abandonment, he spontaneously walks out of a company meeting and boards a random train headed out of the city after briefly attending his girlfriend’s wedding. Aboard the train, he meets Geet Dhillon, a vibrant young woman, who refuses to stop talking. Exhausted by her constant chattering, Aditya gets off at a station in the middle of the night, but Geet chases after him. As she attempts to get him back aboard, they are both left behind. Geet blames Aditya for the mess and insists he accompany her to her home in . Geet’s company on the journey shakes Aditya out of his depression. At some point, he starts falling for her, but finds out Geet is planning to elope with her boyfriend, Anshuman. After spending quite a few days with each other, Geet and Aditya finally reach Bhatinda. At Geet’s home in Bhatinda, Geet introduces Aditya as the one who protected her and helped her reach her home safely after missing train. Her grandfather initially suspects something is brewing between them, but later expresses gratitude to Aditya for protecting her; to hide his businessman credentials, Aditya introduces himself as a musician. The next day, Geet tells Aditya that her family had already been thinking of getting Geet married to her childhood friend, but she is not willing to do that and has decided to elope with Anshuman. Finally, one night, Geet leaves her home with Aditya, and they reach , where Anshuman stays. Aditya bids her farewell and returns to Mumbai. The trip has changed Aditya’s life, giving him renewed optimism. He reconciles with his estranged mother, and launches a new product for his company, named after Geet. He thinks Geet is the one who brought colours to his already finished life, and gradually develops feelings for her. But one fine day, when everything was going good, Aditya is visited by Geet’s family at his office, who claim she is missing from home. Aditya returns to Manali, looking for Geet. There, he meets Anshuman and learns that Anshuman rejected her when she showed up unannounced at his doorstep, as he had no plans of marrying her. Aditya finds Geet in , where she has become a school-teacher, leading a quiet life all by herself. Aditya tries to help her regain her positive outlook towards life, but Anshuman shockingly shows up to start afresh with Geet after a miserable period of 9 months. The three travel to Bhatinda, where Geet’s family welcomes Aditya as her boyfriend/husband. They plan to marry them in front of relatives and friends, and Geet fails to inform them that she is with Anshuman. Eventually, Geet realizes she is in love with Aditya. She kisses him in front of Anshuman, driving the latter away from her life. Geet marries Aditya with their families’ blessings. In early 2007, the announced that director would be directing the then real-life couple Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor in their first “full-fledged “. , worked as an art director on the film and later acted in it too. I had also gone to Preity Zinta. Jab We Met was the most rejected film of my life. It was being rejected everywhere. It was when I narrated the film to Preity Zinta in her house, that she laughed. I thought she is laughing at me, mocking me! But she said it was really funny. So, I continued narrating. That was the first time somebody had complimented the film. So I owe it to her and whenever I meet her I give her a special hug and thank her that, You were the first person, who told me this film is ok. So Bobby and Preity Zinta is the pairing I wanted but it didn’t happen. When Ali began casting for the film, and were his first choices to portray Dhillon and Kashyap respectively, but were eventually replaced by and respectively, the former when Zinta refused to do the film. While, Shahid Kapoor agreed to the film because he “loved the script”, Kareena Kapoor revealed that Shahid “convinced” her to do the film. The film marked Shahid and Kareena’s fourth project together after (2004), (2006) and (2006). On the two lead actors, Ali commented, “I wanted a girl who could look natural in scenes where she misses the train. She had to be without make-up, someone who could be hyper, talkative and interesting but not irritating. I was never a fan of her [Kareena] and hadn’t seen too many of her flicks, but I just knew Kareena was perfect as Geet […] [On the other hand], When I met him [Shahid], I realised he wasn’t the forgettable actor that he comes across in several of his movies. He has gone through a lot in life and that maturity had never been brought out. He was perfect for the role of a young, mature, quiet guy.” was cast as Anshuman, opposite Kareena Kapoor. While, was cast as Geet’s sister, as Geet’s grandfather, as Geet’s uncle, Kamal Tiwari as Geet’s father, as Geet’s mother and as Aditya’s mother. The film was shot throughout the , and filming started on 20 March 2007 in and later headed to and , where the crew filmed a song on the and the . served as the costume designer. The summer shots in Punjab of the haveli were filmed in Nabha near Patiala. While shooting the last schedule of the film in , sources had indicated that the lead pair had broken up. Though the media projected it as a publicity stunt for the film, it was later confirmed that the couple had indeed parted ways. To promote the film, the actors appeared separately on different television shows. Kareena Kapoor appeared as guest judge on the singing talent contest whilst Shahid Kapoor appeared on and ; they later appeared together on the television show . Apart from this, the producers also painted two full local trains in from the Western and Central lines with imagery, where Shahid Kapoor chatted up with fellow passengers and informed them about the film. The title of the film was decided by a popular vote; moviegoers had a choice between , (‘ ‘) and (earlier titles of the film had included , and ). Imtiaz Ali initially approached to compose the score and soundtrack for the film. However Rahman declined the offer assuring Imtiaz that he would do . The score was composed and produced by . The film featured songs composed by with lyrics by . The track is loosely based on raag . The film’s soundtrack was released on 21 September 2007 by lead actress, on the musical show . The soundtrack mostly received positive reviews. Joginder Tuteja from gave the music 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, “In 2007, Pritam may have come up with good music in number of films […] But if there is one album that impresses most after and turns out to be the most satisfying experience, it is . The album is a perfect example of how to get a quality soundtrack which mixes songs for different segments of audience.” rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, describing the album as “certainly one of the better albums that have come out this year … Pritam has shown a depth and width of imagination in the manner in which he has used so many different genres and mixed them together to create a fascinating journey of music.” The film’s soundtrack debuted at number 8 and later jumped up to number 5 during its second week. Over the next several weeks, the album steadily began climbing up the music charts and saw the album sales increase after the film’s release. During the week of 19 November the album replaced the soundtrack of and moved up to number 1 but fell back to number 2 the following week. Despite competition from the release of newer soundtracks, the album stayed at the top for over nine weeks. According to the Indian trade website , with around 19,00,000 units sold, this film’s soundtrack album was the year’s second highest-selling. album was featured on and year-end list of . was worldwide released on 25 October 2007. served as the DVD partner and regional distributor for . The film was officially released on DVD in the U.S., U.K., UAE and other international markets on 7 December 2007. A single disc collector’s item in an enclosed box with the DVD containing English, Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish subtitles was also released. The film was later made available on . In 2024, the film was re-released in theatres as part of ‘s Valentine’s Film Festival. opened with an opening of 70% all over India on 26 October 2007 and later increased to 90% during the weekend. Making a total first week net business of 11.75 crores from 350 cinemas, the film went into the second week with very strong collections and saw a massive increase with 40%-50% increment in shows worldwide. Continuing its strong march in week two with collections of over (US$1.1 million) and a two-week total of (US$2.5 million), the film was declared a . During its third week, managed to add another (US$240,000) to its collections but suffered a setback due to release of and , which resulted in the number of shows for the film being reduced. Due to demand and the poor performance of the latter, the following week saw an increase in the number of prints for the film across the country, and resulted in a 50% increase of the film’s collections. Completing 50 successful days at the box office on 14 December 2007. the film received a hit status by . By February 2008, had made a net business of over ₹310 million (US$10.9million), and emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year. On 30 January 2008, it was announced that to celebrate the success of its 100 days run at the box office, in would have a special screening of the film on . Meanwhile, also opened well internationally, especially in the U.K., where it was released a day before its worldwide release of 26 October. Debuting at number 10 in the U.K., the film grossed £11,488 on its previews night and £144,525 on its opening weekend, collecting a total of £156,013 from 31 screens. The film continued to do strong business and garnered excellent collections during its second week, making a two-week total of £325,996. Over the next five weeks, collected a total of £43,529 from 54 screens and made a grand total of £424,681. Upon release, the film opened to widespread critical acclaim. Critics praised the film for its simplicity, its romance, saying that it was “one of the finest romantic films to come out of Bollywood in 2007”. The film’s direction and performances were particularly appreciated. gave the film 4 out of 5 stars concluding, “The film belongs to Kareena and Shahid who pitch in memorable performances and lend a whole new meaning to the boy-meets-girl story.” from gave the film a 3.5 out of 5 rating saying it is “as refreshing as an ice-cold watermelon juice in scorching heat.” Subhash K. Jha wrote, “… is the kind of cinematic experience that is hard to come by in this day and age of smoky cynicism and borrowed rage.” from , who gave the film 3 stars out of 5, described it as “a film bursting with the kind of lovely little moments that’ll bring a smile to your face. Khaled Mohamed of gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying the film, “is quite a delight, particularly for the chirpy-chirpy-cheep-cheep girl and the retentive, moan-groan boy. Directed with a flair for garnishing even the most abject of circumstances with humour and irony, here’s a feel-cool film. Wonderful. Reviews towards the director, Imtiaz Ali, were favourable as well. wrote, “After his much-appreciated (2004), Imtiaz goes bigger and better and the result is nothing but flying colours”. Most critics agreed that the main highlight of the film was the leading pair and Kareena and Shahid’s chemistry. further explained, “The real magic of this film lies in the performances of its two main leads who seize your attention from the moment they first appear on screen.” Taran Adarsh commented, “Shahid delivers his career-best performance in … Kareena is in top form as well. is a turning point in her career. Fantabulous — that’s the right word to describe her work this time. The confidence with which she handles the contrasting characterization speaks volumes. This film should do for her what (1998) did for .” Subhash K. Jha approved the chemistry as well, “…there are sparks…and the ones between Kareena and Shahid are so unselfconsciously genuine that you end up looking at the characters rather than the two actors going through a series of brilliantly conceived and energized incidents…” Apart from critics, was one of the best films of 2007 according to various Bollywood film directors such as , , , and . received several accolades including, two , two and two . The film also earned three , three , three and one . Ashtavinayak announced that would be remade in four other languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. However, eventually it was only remade in Tamil as (2009) and subsequently dubbed in as . Starring and , it was an average grosser. The film’s plot later inspired the television show (2011), starring and . remains one of the most popular romantic comedies in Hindi cinema. The film was named as one of the Bollywood’s top 10 most romantic movies by and . placed the film in its “The 100 best Bollywood movies” list. Ineye Komonibo of listed it as one of the 43 best Bollywood movies of all time. Jasmine Ting of cited it as one of the best Indian films. listed it as one of the thirty evergreen Bollywood films that one should watch before they die. featured the film in her book, ‘‘50 Films That Changed Bollywood’’. Sampada Sharma of noted, ” has gained in the world of Hindi romantic comedies and can easily be addressed as the most adored love story since (1995).” is cited as a milestone in Imtiaz Ali, Shahid and Kareena’s career. The film brought recognition to Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor, both having enjoyed only limited success in their previous films. The couple was named in s list of the top 10 best romantic couples of the decade. Shahid and Kareena’s performance has been noted as one of their most notable works. It later consolidated their career. Kareena Kapoor’s character Geet Dhillon, became a popular and recognizable character. She later went on to say about her role, “To play a character like Geet doesn’t happen all the time; it just happens. When you begin working on a film, you of course know about the story and your character. However, no one knows how audiences would eventually react to it. Geet did strike a chord with the audiences and became a household name.” named Geet, as one of Bollywood’s most beloved characters. For her performance in the film, she was placed 66th in s “80 Iconic Bollywood Performances” list. , , and have named Geet among the strongest and inspirational female characters of Bollywood.</p>