Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan aka SRK, has broken record after record since its premiere. Since its release, the film has smashed box office records. To say that the cast and crew are pleased would be an understatement. Shah Rukh Khan has worked with YRF before. Although he has worked with the Chopra family for decades, few people realize that it took Aditya Chopra 30 years to fulfill a promise he made to Shah Rukh Khan. An entertaining tale involving the two follows.
Shah Rukh Khan has been quite open about how he got along well with Aditya Chopra. He said they often spent their evenings playing scrabble. Then, on his birthday, Aditya Chopra requested King Khan to star in a movie alongside him. A film with a heroic protagonist and plenty of action sequences was planned. When Aditya Chopra told the narrative a few years later, it was Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, even though SRK had always dreamed of becoming an action star.
Shah Rukh Khan said,
“So, it was my dream to do an action film – where I am wearing a white vest, I have a great body, there’s blood, I am with a girl, holding a gun. Then Adi came and narrated the film to me in Mehboob studio – That film was Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I was like ismein action Kahan hai?!”
Eventually, Shah Rukh Khan worked on films with YRF like Dil Toh Pagal Hai, which were quite different from the action-packed masala flicks he had previously starred in. Thus, when Aditya Chopra first told Shah Rukh Khan about the story for his film Pathaan, the actor mistook the director for a liar because of that incident.
SRK said, “They came, narrated the script and left. I was sitting with my manager – Pooja. I told her ‘Adi is lying’. He will not make an action film. But I really really thank him that after 30 years, he fulfilled his promise and made Pathaan with me.”
