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Actor Shah Rukh Khan rose to prominence at a rather tumultuous time in the Hindi film industry, when the underworld applied regular pressure on movie stars and producers. Even though that era has long passed, mere days ago, Shah Rukh was given Y+ security cover from the Maharashtra government, in light of threats to his life.
In an interview with comedian-actor Ruby Wax, a clip of which recently resurfaced on Reddit, Shah Rukh spoke about the threats that would be directed at him in the 90s. “They would set up a system, and they would say you do it. I may not have succumbed to it, but then they shoot you. So, sometimes it’s nice to do a film.” Wax asked incredulously, “You’re seriously saying someone calls you and says be in my film or I’ll blow your head off?” Shah Rukh nodded, and said, “Not as nicely as you’re saying it.” Shah Rukh told her that the film industry is an easy target, and also very lucrative. Asked if he’s ever had his life threatened, Shah Rukh said, “Oh yes, on many occasions… I had a lot of security for three years.”
Journalist Anupama Chopra’s book, King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema, documented this era in Bollywood, and Shah Rukh’s place in it. The actor would get frequent threatening phone calls from gangster Abu Salem, who was upset that Shah Rukh wasn’t doing what was told to him. “He would tell me that he could see me,” Shah Rukh recalled. “It was like living under a telescope. It was very depressing and very scary.” As advised by Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria, Shah Rukh was told to be delicate in his interactions with the underworld don, and he admitted that he was terrified. “I’m not macho enough to turn around and say that I wasn’t scared of any of these guys. I was s**t scared,” he said.
He added about having to hole up at home, “I got very disturbed. Our house was small, my son was young, and their socks used to smell. It was just claustrophobic.” But when Shah Rukh started getting advice from the don about what films he should do, he found the pluck to retort, “I told him, ‘I don’t tell you who to shoot so don’t tell me which film to do’.”
In a recent interview with mid-day, filmmaker Karan Johar recalled how confident Shah Rukh was when Karan received similar threats from the underworld ahead of the premiere of his debut film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. When Karan was too scared to attend the premiere, Shah Rukh urged him to take a stand and assured him that he wouldn’t leave his side. “I’ll never forget how Shah Rukh brought me out. He said, ‘I’ll take the bullet for you, you just stand here’. That’s when I realised that this is a relationship that is forever,” Karan recalled.
The filmmaker had spoken about the same situation in his autobiography, An Unsuitable Boy. “Shah Rukh said, ‘What nonsense!’ He went inside and dragged me out. He said, ‘I’m standing here in front of you. Let’s see who shoots you. I’m standing right here.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, my mother was…’ He told my mother, ‘Nothing’s gonna happen. I’m a Pathan. Nothing can happen to me and nothing will happen to your son. He’s like my brother. Nothing’s gonna happen’,” he wrote.
In the wake of the blockbuster success of Shah Rukh’s latest film, Jawan, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta tweeted about the spine Shah Rukh showed during the underworld era. “Back in the 90’s when the underworld bullying of film stars was at its peak, Shah Rukh Khan was THE ONLY star who never gave in. ‘Goli marni hai mar do, par tumhaare liye kaam nahin karoonga. Main Pathan hoon (shoot me if you want to, but I won’t work for you, I am a Pathaan),’ he said. He’s the same today (sic),” he wrote.
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