Shah Rukh Khan says he’d be behind bars if he played Darr’s character today; recalls Yash Chopra’s honesty about offering him a negative role: ‘An aggressive, mean film’

SRK went on to share what Yash Chopra told him before offering the role: “He told me, ‘I think you are a great actor. This is a bad guy role. He was very honest. I wanted someone else, but they are not willing to do it. I really think this is a damn good role and you should do it.’”

The actor admitted that since he was constantly being offered “good guy” roles at the time, he wanted to do something different. “I agreed to do the role because everybody was offering me good guy roles, I didn’t want to do good guy roles. I wanted to be a bad guy. And it was an aggressive film. All the romance was there, but it was a very mean film. In today’s time and age, I think I would be put behind bars if I did a role like that.”

Makers of #Darr explaining How Megastar @iamsrk Prepared for That Iconic Psycho Villain Rahul Mehra’s Character pic.twitter.com/UQDw4UBDXv

— MARK (@OG_D0N) September 9, 2025

Yash Chopra had also praised Shah Rukh’s dedication on set, comparing it to that of Amitabh Bachchan. “Shah Rukh will let you do hundred rehearsals. And different type of performances, different types of scenes he would do. Unless he is satisfied or the director is satisfied, he doesn’t give up. Amitabh Bachchan has the same dedication,” the filmmaker said.

SRK further revealed how his iconic stammer in the film — Kkkkkiran — came into being. “I had known a young boy who was my classmate who had a stammer, and then we did some study, some BBC documentary where they talked about that people’s mind become aware to one sound. I spoke to Yashji about using this aspect in the character and it was Aditya Chopra who suggested that because you become aware of a sound, let’s make him aware of the woman he loves the most, her name. Which is why I only stammer on the word Kiran.”