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Shah Rukh Khan became a superstar soon after he started his career in the movies, but decades into his superstardom, SRK agreed to do a film and didn’t even charge any money for it. This was the 2010 film Dulha Mil Gaya, which was produced by his old friend Vivek Vaswani and starred Sushmita Sen and Fardeen Khan in lead roles. In a recent interview, Vivek recalled that he already had already signed Sushmita when she suggested Shah Rukh’s name for the role. Vivek, along with director Mudassar Aziz, took the script to Shah Rukh, who agreed instantly.
In a chat with Siddharth Kannan, Vivek recalled, “Shah Rukh said, ‘Vivek has come for the first time. I will do the film, won’t take any money for it’. He didn’t listen to the script also, and he did the film.” Shah Rukh did not have a major part in the film, but it wasn’t a cameo either. He had a 42-minute role, and Vivek made sure that none of his parts were cut on the edit table. “The truth is that the role was exactly 42 minutes in the script and it was exactly 42 minutes on screen. 42 minutes is not small. He gave us five days and we finished it in five days,” he shared.
Vivek said that Shah Rukh did exactly what the makers wanted him to do and was “brilliant” at it. “Exactly as we wanted, Shah Rukh did it. He didn’t interfere, he didn’t read the script, he was so brilliant, so convincing, he was outstanding, this is the truth,” he said.
In the same chat, Vivek recalled Shah Rukh’s remuneration for one of his first films, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. SRK famously signed a few films even before his first release, so films like Deewana, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Chamatkar, Dil Aashna Hai were all in the making around the same time. It just so happened that Deewana was released first. “Shah Rukh wanted Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman to be the first release but then, I said if you become a hit, then Raju will be sold at a higher price, and if you become a flop, then Raju will save you. You become successful by strategy, not by luck,” he said.
When asked how much Shah Rukh was paid for Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Vivek said, “He took Rs 50,000 for Raju.” But when asked if Shah Rukh would have worked for even Rs 10,000, Vivek said, “Yes. The money was pocket money, he was living in my house. But I would like everyone to be paid professionally and in those days, for a new actor to be paid Rs 50,000 was respectable, it was not small.”
Vivek claims to be instrumental in orchestrating Shah Rukh’s initial releases so he could become a ‘saleable’ actor. He also shared that the two have not spoken in four years.
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