Kim Sharma says she learned nothing from Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan while working on Mohabbatein: ‘I was not paying attention’

Despite making an enviable debut in a film featuring some of the biggest names in Bollywood, Kim Sharma's acting career never really took off — perhaps for all the right reasons. She entered the world of cinema by playing a key role in director Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein (2000), his sophomore directorial venture after the industry hit Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). However, Kim's performance was widely panned and became one of the very few aspects of the film to receive negative reactions, while almost every other element impressed audiences.

Produced by Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films, Mohabbatein featured Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, eventually even revitalising Amitabh’s declining career. However, the movie did little to boost Kim's prospects. Recently, she revealed that despite working alongside industry legends, she learned nothing from them, simply because understanding the craft was never a priority for her.

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"I didn't learn anything because I was not paying attention. You have to understand the situation: if I am a kid and Nelson Mandela walks through the door, if I don't know him, I wouldn’t care. It means nothing to me. I was very young, so I won’t call it a waste of time. I live my life with no regrets. If I were in a scenario with them (SRK and Big B) today, I would have a lot more to take back. But at 18, they were just great people. Shah Rukh is very enigmatic. I had a great time with them," she said during a chat with Kunickaa Sadanand on her YouTube channel.

During the same conversation, Kim Sharma also revealed that she gave her first audition for the film in front of Karan Johar, who bluntly told her she lacked the skills to become an actor. "I auditioned thrice, one with the assistant director Nikkhil Advani and the second one with Karan (Johar). He said, ‘Tumhe dance karna nahi aata, dialogue bolna nahi aata; kyun heroine banna chahti ho? (You don’t know how to dance or deliver dialogues; why do you want to become a heroine?)’ Then, I said that I didn’t want to become an actor and that I was just doing this because I was instructed to be there. Nahi hua toh bhi kuch nahi hota. My third audition was taken by Aditya Chopra and he really liked me," she added.