By Srijony Das Last Updated:
Bollywood has seen rare friendships budding between two lead actresses. These kinds of bonds have been majorly tainted with reputations of ugly catfights and cut-throat competition to reach the top of the ladder. However, the bonding between Kareena Kapoor and Esha Deol grabbed eyeballs throughout. Apart from the fact that the duo belonged to affluent film families, it was pretty indigestible to many how these two contemporary actresses shared such a friendly bond. Unfortunately, despite being BFFs for the longest time, they walked separate ways.
One must rewind back to the past to understand what went wrong between two such best friends. Kareena and Esha bonded way before the duo entered the showbiz world. The duo were schoolmates and had known each other quite well. Moreover, much like every bestie ever, they knew about each other’s love lives before they could even tell their families about the same. Once, in an interview with Filmfare, Kareena had recalled her group of- friends, and among them, she had called Esha as her closest friend. In her words:
“I do go out but my social circle is restricted to four or five close friends like Karan Johar and Manish Malhotra. I'm very fond of Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. I'm comfortable with them. And of course, Esha Deol. She's one of my closest friends. I'm already six films old…or young, I treat her like a younger sister. I teach her the do's and don'ts. She's as excitable and temperamental as I am. We like and dislike the same things. We're quite sure our friendship is envied by everyone."
Recommended Read: Dipika Chikhlia's Candid Revelation On Meeting Her Real-Life Ram In Her Hubby, Hemant Topiwala
When everything seemed to go smoothly, there were from nowhere reports that came about which stated the crack in the friendship between Esha and Kareena. To prove the same, multiple reports claimed that Esha Deol had not invited Kareena to her wedding due to an unknown tiff between the two. However, Kareena later clarified the reason behind skipping Esha Deol’s wedding and mentioned that she was busy with her shoots. Kareena, in an interview with The Times Of India, had mentioned:
“I'm on an outdoor in Thailand shooting for Heroine and will only be back on July 5 so I am unable to attend Esha's wedding events. Yes but I'm traveling now. I do wish Esha a happy married life always. Esha invited me and my family for the wedding. She told my friend Reenaa and her secretary sent the invite but Saif and I were away. I haven't been home in a month as I have been traveling all over London, Turkey and now Thailand."
As the media was buzzing back then with several theories behind the broken friendship between Esha and Kareena, it was a popular narrative circulated by one of Aahana Deol’s (Esha Deol’s sister) college mate that gave an altogether different reality check. According to that person, after Esha started to get too involved romantically with her frequent co-star, Zayed Khan, her mother, Hema Malini, was totally against the match. Therefore, she asked Kareena to speak to Esha about the same, which ended up causing arguments and differences between them. The report stated:
Continue reading below
“Okay, I know this one because Aahana was in my college when this drama was unfolding. So apparently, Esha was getting too involved with Zayed and his crew. Zayed at the time was quite known for his drug habits. Hema didn't like it one bit and asked Kareena to stop Esha and tell her to concentrate on her career. Kareena tried to speak to Esha but Esha was blinded by love and fought with Kareena due to this.”
Going further in the report, the individual also added how Zayed’s sister, Sussanne who was already miffed with Kareena due to her previous romantic involvement with her then-hubby, Hrithik Roshan, added the unexpected fuel to the fire. She sided with Esha and provocated her against Kareena. Thus, she too added her share of influence on Esha and was a catalyst behind the friend breakup between the latter and Kareena. According to the report:
“There was also the Suzanne Khan element, she was Zayed's sister and hated Kareena for her Hrithik connection and had influenced Esha too. In the end they had some pretty nasty fights where Kareena said all the coke will ruin Esha's life and Esha said I didn't waste my time running after some married guy etc.”
Check This Out: When Deepika Padukone Talked About Not Regretting Her Famous 'RK' Tattoo, 'No Plans To Take It Off'
In yet another of the theories that circulated during the reports of Esha Deol and Kareena Kapoor’s tiff, there was a mention of Amrita Arora who wanted to patch things up between the two friends. But, things turned worse when during defending Kareena, Esha ended up slapping Amrita since she was too blinded by her love for Zayed. This action offended Amrita, and also pissed off Kareena to an extent that she broke all ties with Esha. Incidentally, this episode also became the foundation of a beautiful friendship starting between Kareena and Amrita, which continues even today. The report stated:
“Later on Amrita Arora tried to patch things up between Kareena and Esha, but Esha even was too much involved with Zaid at that point and even fought with Amrita. Amrita defended Kareena and Esha ended up slapping Amrita. That pissed Kareena also off and she cut all ties with Esha. After that incident, even Kareena was really touched by Amrita defending her and they became really close.”
What do you think about Esha Deol and Kareena Kapoor’s broken friendship?
Next Read: When Aishwarya Rai Had Called Her Then-Beau, Salman Khan As The Sexiest Man In Bollywood