On this day 25 years ago, a film was released. It was promoted as a major film starring Aamir Khan and Twinkle Khanna in the lead roles and was also touted as the grand entry of Aamir’s brother, Faisal Khan, into the Hindi film industry. But, alas, despite all the hype and expectations, the film was said to be a box office failure (even though director Dharmesh Darshan has denied claims of the film being a failure). However, due to the flop of the film, a hit love story was written – the love story of Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar.

While most of those who have watched Koffee with Karan would know that due to the film being a flop, Twinkle Khanna finally agreed to marry Akshay Kumar, whom she was dating at that time. As Akshay himself admitted in an episode of Koffee with Karan, Twinkle had given her all to the film. For them this was a big project which would give them their due. When things did not work out, she not only distanced herself from films and quit acting, but also said yes to Akshay.

During the episode, Twinkle said, “I felt that Mela would be a game changer for me. So, I told him that I will not marry him. I also said that if Mela flops, I will marry you.” Akshay said, “She was very confident about Mela and had said that if the film did not do, she would get married. Luckily for me, Mela flopped and we got married.”

Here is a song from the fair:

Twinkle often makes fun of the fairAt a separate event, she also joked that Aamir Khan once ‘almost slapped’ her because he felt she was not serious about the film. While talking to Karan Johar at the event, Twinkle Khanna said that Aamir once asked her, “Why are you doing this? Why are you not concentrating on the film?” When she admitted that she was thinking about Akshay Kumar, he almost slapped her. Aamir immediately said that he would never behave like this and that he believed that Twinkle was exaggerating.

Mela was released on 7 January 2000.