As Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani Turns 8 On May 31, Here Is A List Of 8 Unknown Facts

As Yeh Jawani Hai  Deewani Turns 8 On May 31, Subhash K Jha Lists  8 Unknown Facts

1.   Ayan  Mukerjee’s second directorial  after  Wake  Up Sid, which incidentally was a far superior film, was pre-cast. It had to be Ranbir Kapoor in  the lead.  Ayan had  once told me he will cast  his best friend for as long as  he makes movies. So far he has kept his word. Ranbir’s earlier  besties  Siddharth Anand  and  Vikramjit Singh made one  film each with  Ranbir(Bachna Ae Haseenon, Roy) and moved on.

2.     The  original choice  for nerdy Naina was Katrina Kaif. But then Ranbir and Ayan thought  Ranbir’s  X Deepika  suited  the role better. Don’t  ask Y.

3.     Madhuri Dixit’s completely ill-fitting  item song was  an afterthought. They included  Madhuri’s  Ghagra guest appearance  because she was Ranbir’s first crush. Ranbir returned  the compliment by  making a guest appearance in  Ms Dixit’s  Marathi film  Bucket List.

4.     Aditya Roy Kapoor was rapped  on his knuckles by Mahesh Bhatt for playing the second lead  in a Ranbir  starrer. Bhatt was planning  a  massive  re-launch for  Aditya as a leading man in  Aashiqui 2. He wanted to  get him out of  the  second-lead bracket. Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani was  the last time Aditya was seen as a second lead.

5.     Ranbir’s  troubled relationship with the late  Farouq Shaikh who played  his father was  based on his real-life equation with his  father Rishi Kapoor.

6.     At 159 minutes this is one of   the longest films of Ranbir’s career.Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti was longer.  But most critics felt  Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani  was way too long with much too little  story to tell. It lost  quite a lot of money on release  but  made profits eventually through satellite and television .In fact the only films  of  Ranbir to make profits on release were  Ajab Prem  Ki Gazab  Kahani and Sanju.

7.     The title Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani came  from a song Ranbir’s uncle Randhir Kapoor  sang in Kishore  Kumar’s voice in Narendra Bedi’s 1972 hit Jawani Deewani. Producer Karan  Johar apparently paid a  heft amount to  get that title.

8.     Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani was partly shot  in Gulmarg Kashmir . But for reasons best known to  Ayan and team,  they  passed off Gulmarg as Manali in  the film. It’s not only jawaani that is  deewani.