Actor Saumya Tandon recently returned to the big screen with Dhurandhar after 18 long years in the role of Akshaye Khanna’s wife. However, people still remember her for her big screen debut as Roop in Imtiaz Ali’s 2007 film Jab We Met but the actor reveals that she actually met Imtiaz for the first time when the discussion for Rockstar was going one and they were looking to cast for the leading lady.
The actor tells us, “I had actually met Imtiaz for another film for a lead. I met him through UTV. He was making Rockstar with them at that time. So the meeting was for Rockstar and then this (Jab We Met) came up and I just thought that I was so new and had no one to guide me. I met Imtiaz for the first time where they could meet where they were casting for a Kashmiri girl.”
The actor eventually chose the character of Roop, who plays Geet (Kareena Kapoor Khan)’s sister. Saumya says, “I was a baby when Jab We Met happened. I was just a baby, fresh out of college and I had no idea what was happening. I really liked Imtiaz just like how I fell for Aditya Dhar’s script and I thought ki chalo kone mein chupke dekhenge ki kaisa hota hai badi films mein and it will be like an induction for me. But the film became so huge.”
While it is not known if Saumya was eventually finalized or not for Rockstar, the Ranbir Kapoor starrer film got back in production later and released in 2011 with Nargis Fakhri as the female lead.
“They were meeting a lot of girls to cast for Rockstar. Weather they decided or me or not I don’t know. That film fizzled out with UTV back then and Ashtvinayak ke saath Jab We Met happened. Rockstar happened two years later with Ranbir Kapoor. Initially it was supposed to happen with John Abraham and a new girl,” she says.
