Shah Rukh Khan was hesitant to work in DDLJ, Aditya Chopra convinced him: ‘Your eyes have something that cannot be wasted on action’

In The Romantics, Aditya Chopra recalled how he cast Shah Rukh Khan for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ.

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

For most of his career, Shah Rukh Khan has been known as a romantic hero and this era of his career started with Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. In the Netflix documentary The Romantics, Aditya revealed that SRK was quite hesitant to do the film as he wanted to be an action hero. Shah Rukh recalled that he was hoping for Aditya to offer him an action film as he had recently done Darr with Yash Chopra, where Aditya was an assistant and the two had struck a good working relationship.

Shah Rukh said that he felt Aditya had “fooled” him and “converted him into a lover” without him realising it. Aditya shared that he was looking for an “unpredictable romantic hero” as Shah Rukh had done Darr and Baazigar recently. But when he went and narrated DDLJ to SRK, the actor was “shocked” as he was not expecting a love story. The superstar recalled that he was hoping for an action film but Adi had narrated him a “really sweet, namby pamby film”. When asked if he did not like the movie, Shah Rukh said, “There was no like or dislike, it was just not the film that I wanted to hear.”

Aditya Chopra said in the documentary that Shah Rukh Khan should not just stick to action films because he believed that SRK’s eyes “have something that cannot be wasted on action”. For many months, Shah Rukh did not commit to the film while Aditya kept visiting him on his sets every few days. Aditya recalled that he was at “edge of my patience” and was wondering if he should move on and look for another hero until one incident changed everything.

Story continues below this ad

Also Read | Aditya Chopra on Uday Chopra’s unsuccessful career: ‘We could not make him a star…’

Aditya recalled that he was on the sets of Trimurti when an 80-year-old woman came up to Shah Rukh and praised his work but she was really disheartened by the fact that he is always fighting and his character dies in every movie. Fifteen minutes later, SRK and Aditya talked where Adi recalled telling him, “I’m feeling you are hesitant and you are not being able to say no to me.” He added, “I would just advise you that don’t shut your doors on ever doing a love story because in this country a superstar will only be that person who will be every mother’s son, every sister’s brother, every college girl’s fantasy.” This stuck with Shah Rukh and Aditya recalls that the next time they saw each other, Shah Rukh said yes.

DDLJ is known as one of the most popular films of Shah Rukh Khan’s career. The film recently re-released in theatres.

Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.