‘Charming’ Shah Rukh Khan is bad at this one thing, reveals Farhan Akhtar as he recalls Don shoot in Paris: ‘Couldn’t even move my neck’

Farhan also revealed that he and SRK met formally for the first time during the Dil Chahta Hai screening, though they had crossed paths earlier because of his mother and writer Honey Irani, who wrote Shah Rukh-starrer Darr. He added that he truly bonded with SRK while shooting Lakshya in Delhi, around the same time Shah Rukh was in the city visiting family and friends. For the uninitiated, both SRK and his wife Gauri Khan are from Delhi and still have many friends and relatives there.

Recalling those early days, Farhan said, “For Lakshya, we once shot at a restaurant in Delhi, and that was owned by Shah Rukh’s childhood friend. We would hang out at the restaurant. It was a really nice time.”

Farhan reveals the one thing SRK is bad at

It was during this phase in Delhi that Farhan expressed his desire to work with Shah Rukh, which eventually translated into their collaboration on Don. Speaking about why SRK fascinated him as an actor, Farhan said, “There is something very magnetic, charming about him.”

While praising Shah Rukh’s many talents, Farhan also revealed the one thing the superstar isn’t great at. He narrated an incident from the first Don shoot, saying, “On the set of the first Don, I realised Shah Rukh is incredible at many things, but there is one thing that he is not great at… One day, when we were shooting in Paris, it was the last schedule and I got director’s fatigue. I got severe neck pain and my entire shoulder and neck were frozen.”

He continued, “SRK made me sit down, and he told me that he would do a massage on my neck that would ease out the pain. He did the massage, and he gave me a medicine. ‘Tomorrow morning, it will all be gone,’ he told me. The next day, I could not even move my neck in the other direction. I told him ‘Thanks. That was super.’ He’s good at many many things, but not at deep tissue massages.”

Aamir postponed Dil Chahta Hai shoot for Lagaan

Farhan also shared an anecdote about Aamir Khan, revealing how the actor postponed the shoot of Dil Chahta Hai so he could complete Lagaan first. Farhan said he used this 9–10 month gap to rework and improve the script. However, Aamir ended up rejecting the revised draft. “I had 9–10 months to kill, so I was tinkering with the script. When Aamir came back from Lagan shoot, he wanted to hear the script again, and I narrated the new draft to him and he insisted on hearing the narration of the original script and only went with the old version.”

Recalling Aamir’s advice, Farhan added, “He told me, ‘When writers and directors have more time in their hand, they think that they can improve things, but if you have written something, it is good, leave it, don’t let your mind get ahead of you.'”

Farhan was recently seen as an actor in 120 Bahadur. He will soon be directing Don 3 with Ranveer Singh.