3 min readNew DelhiJun 9, 2026 03:43 PM IST
Deepika Padukone’s first collaboration with Imtiaz Ali was the 2009 film Love Aaj Kal and since it was a follow-up to the director’s much-celebrated film Jab We Met, there were a bunch of expectations from the movie. However, upon the film’s release, it did not match up to the success of his previous movie, but it did showcase a female character who wasn’t a shining example of morality. In a recent interview, Imtiaz discussed the flaws of Deepika’s character, Meera, and said that he was told that she would come across negatively if she leaves her husband just a day after getting married.
In the film, Deepika and Saif Ali Khan’s characters break up, following which, she marries Rahul Khanna’s character. Hours before their wedding, Saif’s character confesses his love for her, but she decides to go ahead with the wedding anyway. A day after the wedding, she leaves her husband. When asked about the decision to do so in the movie, Imtiaz told Galatta Plus, “Lots of people were saying that she will come across negatively if she gets married and next morning, after waking up, she tells her husband that I don’t want to be with you anymore because I have now realised what both Jay (Saif) and I feel for each other.”
Imtiaz said that he had seen many such stories in real life and shared that instead of judging them, he was fascinated by them. “Unfortunately, I have heard and seen these situations in my life and rather than judging that person, one feels fascinated thinking what it is that she must be going through. Why would she do something like this? What happened? And that is the kind of discovery that leads to the making of the film,” he said.
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It was then pointed that even though such incidents happen in life, they are hardly ever seen in the movies. To this, Imtiaz said, “But what happens in life becomes the basis for what happens in the movies. I can’t draw from movies to make other movies.”
Elaborating about Deepika Padukone’s character, Imtiaz Ali shared his worries at the time. “A part of me was also worried that Deepika’s character would be judged. What she is doing is wrong. But do we want to see her story because she is right? No. We want to see her story because we are interested, because there is something real in her. We can judge her. We can say she is a horrible person. We don’t love people who are good or bad. We love people that we love. There is no explanation for this,” she said.
After Love Aaj Kal, Deepika worked with Imtiaz in Cocktail, which was written by him. This was a defining film for her career as her perception as an actor changed dramatically after this. They later collaborated on Tamasha, which also starred Ranbir Kapoor.
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