Mahesh Bhatt says he’s the ‘only man who has made two flops with Shah Rukh Khan’, praises SRK for not changing afterwards

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt reflected on the unenviable distinction of being the only person to have directed Shah Rukh Khan in not one but two box office bombs. He said that many movie stars become cold and distant with directors who haven’t been able to deliver hits with them, but Shah Rukh didn’t change his attitude towards him at all. Mahesh Bhatt has directed Shah Rukh in the films Chaahat and Duplicate, which were released in 1996 and 1998, respectively.

In an interview with Radio Nasha, he described himself as ‘the only man who has made two flops with Shah Rukh Khan’. He said, “It requires a king and a gentleman to treat a person who has not delivered a hit… Our business thrives on relationships of convenience. It’s a commercial relationship. It’s a give and take. When a director delivers a flop with a star, the star’s demeanour often changes. To not lose the respect that you had for a person even in the face of failure requires a different kind of temperament.”

Also read – Mahesh Bhatt says he won’t return to direction after Alia Bhatt-starrer Sadak 2: ‘I am outdated, a has-been’

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The filmmaker continued, “It shows the kind of stuff that he is made of.” Mahesh Bhatt said that even bad films are made with the same dedication and passion as the good ones. This isn’t the first time that the filmmaker has praised Shah Rukh for his generosity. He recently told Pinkvilla, “You don’t make people like that. The actor in him is obviously the vehicle on which the persona stands but I’ve listened to his heart beat. There’s a very big man in him. A very generous, courageous, great human being.”

Farida Jalal, who worked on the film Duplicate, recalled Shah Rukh’s energy on set. “Shah Rukh was so full of beans. I played his mother in Duplicate and the film’s director Mahesh Bhatt would get stressed working with him because he would want to do each scene in multiple ways, ” she said. Shah Rukh has also worked with Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter, Alia Bhatt, on the film Dear Zindagi, and as a co-producer on the film Darlings.