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 Haseeno, 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.
Image Source: Instagram/yeh_jawaani_hai_deewani_/bollywood_cookies/bollyalbela, Imdb
Image Source: Instagram/yeh_jawaani_hai_deewani_/bollywood_cookies/bollyalbela, Imdb