Love in the Time of Refusal

We know that SRK had offered the role to Tabu first, but Tabu rejected it. One reason was, of course, that the role didn’t offer much for her. But there’s another reason too. And that’s the presence of Irrfan in the cast.

It’s a fact that Tabu and Irrfan have crackling chemistry on screen and a bitter
relationship off it. The main draw of The Namesake was the draw of Tabu and Irrfan for each other, in Maqbool, they were red hot with each other. But it’s also true that for the most part they didn’t talk to each other all through the making of The Namesake.

The dislike is not really mutual. It’s more on Tabu’s part than Irrfan’s. Her irritation with Irrfan stems from the fact that he likes to let on as if they’re truly drawn to each other off-screen as well. A close friend of Tabu says, "Tabu doesn’t like Irrfan showing to the world that there’s more to their relationship than actually is."

For instance, with other people around, he talks to her more intimately on the phone than he would otherwise. It annoys Tabu no end.The dislike surfaced visibly when the media once asked Tabu about the party that Uma Thurman had thrown for the cast of The Namesake. "It was no big deal, what can I say?" she had replied, adding, "Ask Irrfan about it, he likes to talk about these things." A not-so-veiled barb, surely.
So, no thanks. Tabu didn’t want to play Sudama, that’s Irrfan’s, wife. That too, without a meaty role to boot.

Times Of India