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Shah Rukh Khan called and acknowledged he was staying away from media because of Aryan’s case, says paparazzo: ‘He said I am also a father’

Shah Rukh Khan called paparazzo Varinder Chawla and acknowledged that he had been staying away from the media because of the way Aryan was treated by the media during his arrest.

Shah Rukh Khan stayed away from the media for a while after Aryan Khan's arrest. (Photo: Pooja Dadlani/Instagram)

By: Entertainment Desk
New Delhi | Updated: December 17, 2024 08:21 PM IST

3 min read

Shah Rukh Khan went through a very difficult time back in 2021 when his son Aryan Khan was arrested during the Cordelia cruise drugs bust in Mumbai. Aryan was later cleared of all charges but the incident affected Shah Rukh deeply and in a recent interview, paparazzo Varinder Chawla, said that since then, SRK has stayed away from the media for good reason. Varinder recalled an incident from 2022-2023, before the release of Pathaan, when one of his photographers clicked SRK and his family during their private time. Varinder got the footage deleted and later got a call of acknowledgement from the star himself.

Talking to Faridoon Shahryar on his YouTube channel, Varinder said, “During Pathaan, one of my boys crossed the boundary and took some personal pictures of Shah Rukh Khan and his family. They sent it to me and I felt it wasn’t right. I scolded them and told them that this wasn’t done. I told the boys that since you shot it, they would know what you have done and when they get to know who has done it, it will spoil my reputation also.”

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Varinder Chawla said that he immediately called Shah Rukh Khan’s PR team and let them know about the incident. “I immediately called his PR team that my boys have made a mistake. I told them that I have deleted everything and this will not get circulated anywhere because it was a private moment of their family. Their PR team thanked me and said that it’s nice that you understand. I thought the matter is done. Then around 10 minutes later, Shah Rukh’s manager Pooja Dadlani called that sir wants to talk to you. I got scared for a minute that he might scold me. Then I said, ‘Okay, let’s talk because why would I say no to a conversation with him,'” he recalled.

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Shah Rukh spoke to Varinder and confessed why he had been staying away from the media. “He held the phone and he said ‘Beta, they told me that you deleted the video. It’s not that I want to stay away from the media or something like that but I am also a father, whatever wrong has happened in the media…” he recalled implying that SRK had been staying away from the photographers because of whatever had happened during Aryan’s case. “We spoke for some 3-4 minutes. After that, I realised that even I am father of two. And how his son was being framed, and they way he was talking on the phone, it sounded like the pain of a father.”

Since then, Shah Rukh Khan has made many appearances in the media but he does not make as many appearances as he used to before this case. The actor will next be seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s King which also stars Suhana Khan and Abhishek Bachchan.