Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan co-actor recalls shooting with star after having onion for lunch: ‘Can you smell onion on my breath?’

Shah Rukh Khan's co-actor Rajat Kaul recalled doing an action scene with the actor in close proximity after he had raw onion for lunch.

Shah Rukh Khan's co-star from Pathaan recalled shooting an action scene with him.

Shah Rukh Khan has worked with many actors through his three-decade long career and in a recent interview, one of his co-actors from Pathaan recalled a hilarious anecdote from the time the two shared screen space. Rajat Kaul, who played Iqbal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi, recently spoke about the time when he had to do an action scene with SRK in Pathaan. Rajat shared that during the scene, his and Shah Rukh’s faces were quite close to each other and it was in that moment, Rajat remembered that he had quinoa and raw onion salad for lunch.

In a chat with Filmibeat OTT, Rajat said that they were shooting at YRF Studios. Rajat reached before time, got ready and was then told by one of the associates to grab a bite as he had not had anything to eat. As Rajat was having his meal, he got a call informing him that Shah Rukh Khan was on stage and had started rehearsing. Rajat rushed back and saw everyone’s heads turn towards him since he was late. “I am standing in front of him and I am grinning. What else could I say? He looked at me and said ‘Karein? (Shall we?)’ And I said ‘Haan sir, isi din ka wait tha (Yes, I have been waiting for this day)’,” he recalled.

He further shared, “I was tied up and I was still chewing that salad. And he has come this close [shows inches away from his face] and he is holding my face. He is talking to me and he is saying his lines and I am talking to him saying my lines. In the middle of this, I realise that I just had quinoa and raw onion salad. I was trying to suss out the smell that all his leading ladies talk about, that he smells so good and I can’t smell that because I have onion in my mouth. And I ask ‘sir, you are so close to me, can you smell onion on my breath?’ And he’s like ‘nahi nahi yaar’.” Rajat laughed as he shared this anecdote and recalled that even Shah Rukh ended up laughing by the end of this.

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He also shared that he was present during the muhurat shot of Pathaan, which was his first meeting with King Khan. “He came and said ‘thank you for doing the film’. He doesn’t have to say that but he did, and that was more than enough for me. It makes you feel like now I can do anything for him. That was quite a heartfelt moment,” he shared.

Rajat shared that during one of the action scenes, him and Shah Rukh were trying to work out the moves when Shah Rukh told him how he was going to do a particular move. “There was a metal bar behind my head so he said I’ll put my hand on the back of your head so you don’t hit it. But what was going on in my head was ‘I hope he doesn’t break his Rolex watch’.”

Rajat added that Shah Rukh allows his co-actors to try different things and encourages them by responding in different ways when they are trying something new with a scene.

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