When Alia Bhatt met Iqbal Khan on the sets of Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai

The internet can surprise you with nuggets and throwbacks, and this time, Iqbal Khan got an unexpected photo. He was truly amazed to see a picture with his young fans on the sets of the hit 2005 TV show Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai. What was astounding for him was to see a young Alia Bhatt, too, in the photo.

“I remember Shashi Ranjan told me that a bunch of girls really liked my show and wanted to meet me. They visited me on the set and we chatted for a bit. I didn’t know who was who back then. A fan club sent this photo to me recently and I was shocked to see Alia in the picture,” says the Tumhari Pakhi actor.

The show is one of the biggest hits of Iqbal’s career. He adds, “At that time, most shows on TV were family dramas and only a couple of shows were about young love. I played a rock star in Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai, so the connect with the youth was instant. Even today, I get fan mails for the show, which is incredible. Now, when I look back at my performance in the show, I don’t quite like it. I feel, I am a better actor today. Maybe, at that time, it was the flavour of the year and the audiences loved it. The show is very close to my heart.” Produced by Ekta Kapoor, Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai was a story about Angad Khanna, a popular rock star, who was also a casanova. He meets a small town girl, Kripa, and the opposite personalities get attracted to each other leading to a passionate love story.

Today, Alia is a huge star in Bollywood and Iqbal appreciates her different career choices. “I genuinely find that Alia is different from everyone else in the film industry because of the way she presents herself and the films she has been a part of. She stands apart, just as she did in the photo with her friends (laughs),” he says.