05 March,2021 10:00 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Kal Ho Naa Ho Poster, Picture Courtesy: Mid-day Archives
Remember little girl Gia from Kal Ho Naa Ho? She was one of the most adorable and memorable characters in the film. Jhanak Shukla, the actress who portrayed that character, has now revealed how she's not earning anything. She's 25 and has spoken in interaction about how things have changed and how she has also changed over the years.
Talking to Brut India, she said, "My retirement has already begun. My parents say that because I don't work as much. I chill. I make soaps. I roam. I write sometimes. And I've done my masters so I'm like, 'It's okay.'"
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She added, "I was not actually fed up with acting. I was 15 or 16 so I was like, 'I have to chill now.' Because during childhood I had worked a lot but also my parents, they made me take breaks in between. I used to even go to school on a regular basis and I did my homework and everything, it was fun but somewhere I missed a small part of my childhood. So. my parents were also like, 'Take a break now.' So, that's somewhere I lost track when it comes to acting."
Talking about being 25 and not earning, Shukla stated, "When I was small, I had in my mind that I will be 24, I will be earning a lot, I'll be married and settled. I am 25 and not earning anything. But my parents are very supportive."
It's appropriate that Nikkhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho came out in 2003, when the language of cinema began to change and transform towards style and scale. Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai became an immediate trendsetter and aspiring filmmakers wanted to narrate similar stories about friendship and love. Three weeks before Rajkummar Hirani made his directorial debut with Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Advani made his in what remains one of his most accomplished films yet.
2003 also happens to be the right time for the existence of Kal Ho Naa Ho due to the relevance of its leads. Shah Rukh Khan was the infallible charmer, both on and off the celluloid, Preity Zinta's dimples dominated the marquee, and Saif Ali Khan rediscovered his aura post the Dil Chahta Hai cult. It's impossible for the story of Aman, Naina, and Rohit to exist with the same actors in 2019.
