Back in 2005, during an episode of Koffee with Karan, Bipasha Basu openly acknowledged her feud with Kareena Kapoor Khan during the making of her debut film, Ajnabee. Recently, actor Amita Nangia, who worked with both actresses on the film, revealed that the tension between them stemmed from a disagreement over costumes. She mentioned during a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, “I think it was something related to their costumes. They both wanted the same designer.”
When reflecting on whether this ongoing feud affected the other cast members, Nangia stated, “What could we say? We would hear about it on set and react to it. It was their debut.” It’s important to note that while Ajnabee marked the first film for Bipasha, it was actually Kareena’s fourth film. Nangia further described Kareena as reserved, yet friendly, but commented that Bipasha was less approachable and more focused on herself. “I couldn’t relate to Kareena because she was very reserved, and her mother was always with her. We couldn’t bond with her,” she shared. Adding to that, she said, “Bipasha was very new and was completely focused on herself. She wasn’t very friendly.”
Reflecting back on her own experience with Kareena, Bipasha disclosed during the Koffee with Karan episode that their initial amicability soured by the second shooting schedule. She expressed, “It was only in the second schedule that I realized that she does not like me. She stopped talking to me. It doesn’t make my life difficult because when you know that somebody is very clear with their thoughts, that I don’t like you and I’m not going to talk to you, it’s actually better for me.” She concluded, “Because I hate hypocrites. I would rather have a person who’s very straight in front of me, saying, ‘Listen, something’s not right with us, we’ll not talk.’ But we worked professionally absolutely okay; when we had scenes together, there was no tantrum, there were no problems as such.”
Ajnabee also starred Akshay Kumar and Bobby Deol in lead roles. Following the film’s release, both actresses were later cast in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara, yet surprisingly did not share any scenes together in that production. The significance of this longstanding feud between Bipasha Basu and Kareena Kapoor serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities that can arise in the competitive world of cinema, especially when two rising talents strive for recognition amid overlapping career paths.
