Casting
Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif play the romantic leads in the film, and their involvement was announced in the same press release as the initial production company announcement.
[4] Both actors were among the most popular Bollywood actors at the time, having delivered huge hits in the recent past, and this is the first time they've been paired together. They were initially to star together in
7 Days In Paris for director Sanjay Gadhvi, but the film has been indefinitely postponed.
[11] Thus, while their pairing has made the film quite anticipated,
[5][12] some media publications have alleged that their casting was an attempt by Yash Raj Films to end a recent string of box-office flops and disappointments.
[13] While this is Imran Khan's first movie for Yash Raj Films, Katrina Kaif had previously worked with them (and then assistant director Ali Abbas Zafar) on the critical and commercial hit
New York. She was able to take the role thanks to the postponement of
Dostana 2 to which she was already committed.
[14] Her role has been reported in the media as different than characters she's played so far, and alternatively described as a "friendly, simple Delhi girl"
[15] or a "rebel with a grungy punk look".
[16] Prior to shooting, the director selected some 20/25 tattoo designs for Kaif to choose from for her character.
[
The role of Katrina Kaif's fiancé and Imran Khan's brother was initially offered to Ritesh Deshmukh who turned it down after initially accepting it.
[18] It was then given to Ali Zafar (no relation to the director), an actor who'd received rave reviews for his recently released first film
Tere Bin Laden and who confirmed his participation via his Twitter account..
[19] A popular singer, Zafar will also perform his own character's singing in the film and described his casting as "a dream come true"
[20] and his role as a "parallel lead role".
[21] Interestingly, this marks an Indian film where none of the three leads are fully Indian, as Khan is Indian-American, Kaif is British of partly-Indian descent and Zafar is Pakistani. The film additionally stars a new actress whose name hasn't been revealed yet.
[20]
On 17 October 2010, several media outlets reported on the casting of Preity Zinta in an unspecified "glamorous role".
[22] The actress however quickly denied the report on her official Twitter page.