Kuch Kuch Hota Hai clocks 25 years today and actor Rani Mukerji, who played Tina in the film, says it feels “truly surreal because these are the people (the cast and crew) who I literally started my career with”. She adds, “What gives me immense happiness is the fact that we are such close friends. We are like family, whether it is my relationship with Karan (Johar; director) or Shah Rukh (Khan; actor).”

The film featured SRK, Kajol and her in the lead roles and Mukerji, 45, says she wasn’t sure if people would accept her alongside SRK on screen: “Right after I heard the narration, I shared a concern with Karan. I told him since Shah Rukh and Kajol were a part of DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge; 1995) that was an iconic hit, would the audience accept Shah Rukh’s character — Rahul — falling in love with Tina? He said, ‘You don’t worry about it. As long as you are doing the film, you leave that worry to me’.”

Mukerji recalls shooting the title track in Scotland. “Karan was shooting our honeymoon shots. He saw that I wasn’t wearing a mangalsutra. He asked Manish (Malhotra; designer) for it, but since he didn’t carry one, Manish told my mum, ‘Aunty, aapka mangalsutra de do’. I wore my mum’s mangalsutra and shot,” she ends.