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From 'Main Hoon Na' to 'Dil Chahta Hai': 10 Memorable Bollywood Meet-Cutes From the Last 25 Years
This Valentine's Day, from chance train encounters to chaotic first impressions, we take a look at some of our favourite Bollywood meet-cutes which prove that with love stories, well begun is indeed half done.
Meet-cutes are the beating heart of a love story. That first moment of intrigue, the push and pull of fate, the hint of something that could be—before reality, family, and social conventions get in the way. Meet-cutes are interesting because they lack the finality or gravity of ‘love at first sight.’ There’s potential without pressure; it’s the Goldilocks of romantic situations. They range from grand gestures to fleeting glances, from mistaken identities to outright hostility. But when done right, they linger, reminding us that sometimes, love doesn’t begin with a declaration—it begins with a look, a clash, or a stolen moment.
Why just the last 25 years? Because I’m a Y2K baby. The meet-cutes before my time are inherited, ones I heard about before I ever saw them. I knew Raj and Simran before I knew Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. And the meet-cutes of the future? They’ll probably arrive through an algorithm that tells me what to feel before I even process it myself. But the ones in between—these are mine.
Here are ten movie meet-cutes that made us believe in the magic of first meetings.
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Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)
This might just be one of Bollywood’s most unforgettable introductions of all time. Anjali (Kajol) believes she is meeting a refined Urdu poet, Ashfaq Miya. Instead, she meets Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), a suited, confused visitor caught in the mix-up. A simple case of mistaken identity. A comedy of errors. Everyone remembers, “Bade mazakiya ho.” Rahul and Anjali are chaotic, comedic, and full of life.
Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
Tara has too much baggage—emotional, physical—to carry alone. Sid steps in to help. She’s wary; he’s persistent in the gentlest way. The bag is too heavy, the handle breaks—her resolve cracks just a little. She turns, and Sid is there, smiling, ready to help. It’s a moment of vulnerability. This is not love at first sight, this is something deeper. They get on either side of an unusually large bag and share the weight.
Saathiya (2002)
If meet-cutes are about first impressions, this one is for the ages. A train. A girl (Supriya) standing at the door. A boy (Aditya) watching, mesmerised. He follows her, loses her, and then finds her again. The city is their playground, and their romance is built on spontaneity. Simple, dreamy, and full of possibility.
Main Hoon Na (2004)
Sometimes, destiny arrives with a guitar riff. Ram (Shah Rukh Khan) loses a bet and must serenade the first woman he sees. Enter Chandni, the new chemistry teacher (Farah Khan surely enjoyed that pun). The second he sees her, music swells, wind blows, and he belts out Chand Mera Dil, Chandni Ho Tum. Her saree’s pallu floats across his face; he stumbles, quite literally falling for her. In that one instant, the audience knows—he’s a goner.
Cheeni Kum (2007)
Sometimes love simmers slowly like a perfect Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao. A grumpy, arrogant 64-year-old chef (Amitabh Bachchan) and a sharp, unbothered 34-year-old woman (Tabu) argue over the quality of said Pulao. He’s smug, dismissive. She’s unimpressed, unwavering. He badgers her with questions, barely letting her speak. The next day, she sends him pulao so divine that his arrogance crumbles. Their meet-cute is spread across two encounters—less cute, more crackling. The battle lines are drawn, and attraction is served with a side of wit.
Jab We Met (2007)
A train, a chatterbox, and a man on the verge of fading away. Aditya, brooding and broken, wants to disappear into the night. Enter Geet—loud, relentless, and completely oblivious to his misery. She talks, he listens (because he has no choice), and in that maddening, mismatched energy, something shifts. Their journey—both literal and emotional—has begun. One drags the other back to life.
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Barfi! (2012)
A romance in gestures, not words. A car stops in the hills, a family asks for directions. Barfi, deaf and mute but brimming with mischief, uses this moment to fix his hair, pluck a stray nose hair, and flash an impish grin. Shruti laughs. He has her attention. Over time, their encounters multiply—he eats a child’s chocolate, clings to a tram to evade the police, always skating on the thin line between charming and incorrigible. Love doesn’t always need words; sometimes, it just needs impeccable timing.
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013)
Ram and Leela don’t just meet, they collide. It's a gaze that stops time. Leela locks eyes with Ram. He’s pointing a gun at her, but the real standoff is between their eyes. His is a water gun; she pulls out a real one. He squirts; she smirks. He surrenders; she shoots. No words are exchanged, yet a universe is built in seconds. And then, Lahu Munh Lag Gaya begins, and love erupts in a burst of colour, longing, and reckless passion.
Tamasha (2015)
On an island far from home, two strangers decide to be anyone but themselves. He chooses Don, she picks Mona Darling. They speak in riddles, they flirt without consequence. It should be a crime to be this free and this charming, to exist in a world where love isn’t weighed down by the past or the future. But even in this fantasy, something real takes root.
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Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani (2023)
A himbo with a heart of gold. A journalist with a sharp tongue. Rocky needs Rani’s help to reunite his grandfather with his lost love—who just happens to be Rani’s grandmother. What follows is an explosion of verbal sparring, cultural clashes, and undeniable chemistry. Karan Johar reminds us why opposites attract is a cinematic tradition worth preserving.