According to wikipedia,While training at the institute, Kapoor was cast as the female lead in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) opposite his son, Hrithik Roshan.[9] Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project; Kapoor later explained that she had benefited by not doing the film since more prominence was given to the director's son.[9] She debuted later that year alongside Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta's war drama Refugee. Set during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the film centers on a man who illegally transports civilians back and forth across the border. Kapoor portrayed Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with Bachchan's character while illegally migrating to Pakistan with her family. Her performance was acclaimed by critics; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote that Kapoor "has a magnetic personality, which will make the viewer fall in love with her instantly. What surprises you is the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes [...] There is no denying the fact that she is a natural performer who is very camera friendly."[15] On the experience of acting in her first film, Kapoor described it as "tough ... [but] also a great learning experience".[9] Refugee was a moderate box-office success in India[16] and Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.[17]
For her second release, Kapoor was paired opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's box-office hit Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001).[18] A review in The Hindu noted that based on her first two films, she was "definitely the actress to watch out for".[19] She next starred alongside Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan in Subhash Ghai's flop Yaadein, followed by Abbas-Mustan's moderately successful thriller Ajnabee, co-starring Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Bipasha Basu.[18] Later that year, she appeared in Santosh Sivan's period epic Asoka—a partly fictionalised account of the life of the Indian emperor by the same name. Featured opposite Shahrukh Khan, the film was screened at the Venice and 2001 Toronto International Film Festivals, and received generally positive reviews.[20] Kapoor's portrayal of Kaurwaki—a Kalingan princess, with whom Ashoka falls in love—received mixed reactions from critics; Rediff.com concluded that her presence in the film was primarily used for aesthetic purposes.[21] At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Kapoor received her first nomination for Best Actress.[17]
Kapoor's fifth and final release of 2001 was Karan Johar's melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... in which she featured part of an ensemble cast. Filming the big-budget production was a new experience for Kapoor, and she recalls it fondly: "[I]t was great fun doing [the film and] we had a blast. [W]orking with the unit and the six mega star set was a dream come true."[22] Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... was an immensely popular release, finishing as India's second highest-grossing film of the year and Kapoor's highest-grossing film to that point.[18] It also became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over INR1 billion (US$16 million) worldwide.[23] Bollywood Hungama reported that the success of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... proved a breakthrough for Kapoor,[24] and her portrayal of Poo (a good-natured, superficial girl) was described by Taran Adarsh as "one of the main highlights of the film".[25] She received her second Filmfare nomination for the role—her first for Best Supporting Actress—as well as nominations at the International Indian Academy (IIFA) and Screen Awards.[17]
During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor continued to work in a number of projects but experienced a setback. All six films in which she starred—Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Talaash: The Hunt Begins..., Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, and the four-hour war epic LOC Kargil—were critically and commercially unsuccessful.[26][27] Critics described her performances in these films as "variations of the same character" she played in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., and expressed concern that she was becoming typecast.
