Jab We Met, starring Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor, has plenty of Punjabi flavour but if you just look at the title, you may think it is a film bound for the multiplexes.
If you like the film's title, thank Shahid's father, Pankaj Kapoor, for it. Meanwhile, Shahid will tell you that despite the unconventional title, the film is aimed at a very large audience.
"It as my dad's idea to have a Hindi-English title so that both the multiplex audiences and people in smaller towns could connect with the film," Shahid says in an e-mail note. "So we did some intense brainstorming, and he hit upon Jab We Met."
Review: Jab We Met is a cute love story
This is his fourth film with Kareena following Fida, 36 China Town and Chup Chup Ke. While Shahid will tell you how much he loved working on the film, he doesn't want to discuss the rumoured break-up between Kareena and him.
"A lot has been written about Kareena and me on this issue which has caused distress to my family and to me," he writes. Weren't people gossiping that the break-up stories were circulated to draw more attention to the film?
"Only the script and how the promos are presented affect a film's box office. Nothing else matters," he insists.
Kareena plays a chatterbox in the film, and Shahid, a businessman, trying to cope up with broken affair. "We are thrown into each other's company when both of us miss a train and are left standing on a desolate railway platform," he continues. "Our journey from there as we try to make it to our destinations results in a unique relationship, which goes much beyond love. This is the crux of the story."
Compared to the other three films he acted with Kareena, the newest one is a far more romantic film, he says.
As for his career, Shahid acknowledges a lot depends on how Jab We Met fares. But he is not idle. He will soon be seen in Aziz Mirza's Lucky Charm with Vidya Balan and in Nagesh Kukunoor's Tasveer.
