Who taught Kareena Punjabi?

It is common knowledge that a large part of Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met has been shot in Punjab (near Patiala) and that Shahid and Kareena even have Punjabi dialogues to mouth as both essay Punjabi characters, Aditya and Geet.

Interestingly Bebo had an unlikely tutor to get Punjabi nuances right for her character — film editor and director Anurag Kashyap's wife Aarti Bajaj.

While editing the film, Aarti felt that certain lines the actress spoke needed cleaning up. That's when Aarti doubled up as a language teacher during the dubbing of the film!

Even though Kareena is Punjabi, she lacked the accent required for the character. "Kareena was very open to suggestions, so it was fun helping her get the pronunciations right."

Remarks director Imtiaz Ali, "While Aditya and Geet are essentially metropolitan, the moment they reach Punjab in the film, one can see their true north-Indian colours with Shahid in his pathani-style kurta-pyjama and Kareena in her salwar-kameez.

Both of them were looking forward to playing Punjabi characters for the first time, and were in fact, even shooting a film in Punjab for the first time."

Interestingly, Shahid and Kareena's real-life lineage also finds itself in Punjab. Both Pankaj Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor are Punjabis.

Jab We Met releases worldwide on October 26. It is being distributed overseas by Studio 18.