17 Years of Kal Ho Naa Ho: Lesser known facts about the Shah Rukh Khan starrer

Murtuza Iqbal

Nikkhil Advani’s Kal Ho Naa Ho released on 28^th November 2003. The film starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Saif Ali Khan completes 17 years of its release today.

So, today, let’s look at the list of lesser-known facts about the movie…

Kareena Kapoor Khan was the first choice for the movie

Yes, you read it right! While Preity Zinta was amazing in the film and even won awards for her performance in it, the first choice for Kal Ho Naa Ho was Kareena Kapoor Khan. It is said that Kareena quoted a whopping for the film, and that’s why the makers then went to Preity.

Saif Ali Khan was not the first choice to play Rohit

Mostly at every award function, Saif Ali Khan won Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in the film. But this award could have gone to Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan or Vivek Oberoi. Saif was not the first choice for the film, but the fourth choice for the movie.

Body double for Preity Zinta

In the starting of the film, we get to see Preity Zinta jogging on the streets of New York and talks about Indians leaving in the US, and then introduces her character. Well, a model was used as a body double for Preity as the actress had injured herself a day before the shoot.

Not Kal Ho Naa Ho, it was Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Karan Johar, the producer of the film, had initially planned to title the film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. But later, he decided to go with the title Kal Ho Naa Ho. Then in 2006, Karan made a film titled Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna which also starred Preity Zinta and SRK.

Pretty Woman - A recreated track

The song Pretty Woman was a recreated version of the international song with the same name. Karan Johar had bought the rights to recreate Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman for the film.