Satish Shah refused ‘disgusting’ Main Hoon Na role, till ‘smart guy’ Shah Rukh Khan convinced him; got upset after SRK kept laughing at him: ‘I won’t do it’

Calling Shah Rukh “a very smart guy,” Satish revealed how the superstar persuaded him to take the role. He also mentioned that he originally wanted to play the part of the college principal, which later went to Boman Irani. He told Bollywood Bubble, “Maine kaha yeh kya galeech role hai (I said what a disgusting role)? Main toh principal ka role karunga (I will play the principal), which eventually Boman Irani did. Shah Rukh is a very smart guy… woh bola ‘Satish bhai aise role toh apne kai kiye hain aur koi bhi kar sakta hai (Shah Rukh is a smart fellow, he told me you have played many such characters, and anyone can do these roles). I think you should do this role (of Professor Rasai) because we can’t think of anybody else doing it.’”

Admitting how both SRK and Farah pushed him to take on the role, Satish added, “Woh aur Farah dono ne mil ke mujhe chane ke jhad pe chadha diya (Both Shah Rukh and Farah flattered me a lot). That’s how I ended up doing that role, but it was not easy.”

Later in the chat, Satish humorously referred to himself as the “spitting cobra” because of the quirky role, in which he had to spit on Shah Rukh Khan during a classroom scene. “It was not easy. I used to take in a gulp of water and keep it around my mouth and I used to accentuate certain words and syllables in a way that it comes out like a spray,” he explained.

Despite the difficulty of actually spitting on a superstar’s face, Shah Rukh made the task even harder by laughing every time Satish did it. “I used to work so hard on it but Shah Rukh would laugh so we would have a retake,” he recalled.

Shah Rukh’s repeated laughter eventually tested Satish’s patience. “So once we had 8 retakes, and then I got upset. I said I’ll not do it after this. Everybody was laughing and falling off their chairs on the set. Then I gave the eighth shot and Shah Rukh laughed again. They had to use Zayed’s insert shot here,” he said.