Celina Jaitly, the former Miss India and Bollywood actress, made her mark in the early 2000s with a mix of glamorous roles and performances that hinted at emotional depth. Though her presence on the big screen has been rare in recent years, her last major film being the 2011 Kannada drama Shrimathi, Celina remains a voice of substance, often using social media to express strong views on life, art and womanhood.
Now nearly two decades after the release of Jawani Diwani: A Youthful Joyride, Celina has revisited the project, not with nostalgia but with painful honesty. In an Instagram post, she revealed how her character Roma Fernandez was meant to represent a woman’s emotional evolution but ended up being sidelined in favour of a narrative that focused almost entirely on the male lead.
She shared a montage of her scenes with co-star Emraan Hashmi, reflecting on how the film, as originally pitched to her, was supposed to explore the vulnerabilities and growth of a woman in love. Instead, she said, the final product became a one-sided, male-centric tale. Celina expressed that had she been in charge of the film’s direction, she would have told the story through a more sincere and emotional lens, one that would have honoured Roma’s pain, choices and self-worth.
Drawing a parallel between her character’s emotional betrayal in the story and her own experience as an actor, Celina said that she too was “betrayed”. She stated that what was meant to be a woman’s story was reduced to the glorification of a man who, as she put it, “used her, hurt her, and diminished her worth”.
This is what Celina Jaitly’s post read:
“#filmmaking | If I had directed this film, I would have told it from the perspective of the heart, from a place of raw, real emotion. I would never have allowed HER : ROMA FERNANDEZ to settle for someone who hurt her, used her, and diminished her worth. I would have honoured her journey, just as I was promised during the director’s narration.
But just like my character was betrayed in the story, I too was betrayed, as an actor.
What was meant to be her story became all about him, the serial kisser, while the woman who was kissed and believed it was love was pushed aside.
This is not against my amazing co-star, this is against the mentality of the makers at the time, who chose spectacle over sincerity, and diluted a woman’s voice for commercial convenience.”
Here is the post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYX9udIuyp/
Importantly, Celina made it clear that her grievances were not aimed at Emraan Hashmi, whom she described as an amazing co-star, but at the film’s makers and their mindset. She criticised the creators for choosing style over substance and for silencing the female voice in favour of commercial spectacle.
Jawani Diwani, directed by Manish Sharma, was released in 2006 and featured a cast that included Hrishitaa Bhatt, Tiku Talsania and Mahesh Manjrekar. While its upbeat music and quirky humour were well-received by some, the film was often criticised for its superficial treatment of characters, especially the women.
With her reflection, Celina Jaitly not only revisits an old wound but also raises a broader question about the narratives women are promised and what they are ultimately given in the world of cinema.
Have you watched the movie? What is our take on Celina’s post?
