‘Shah Rukh Khan said my mom is dying, hadn’t eaten in 2 days’: Viveck Vaswani says SRK didn’t want to do films as ‘Gauri doesn’t want me to hug girls’

“He was at my place and didn’t like vegetarian food, so we went out to eat non-veg. For the first 20 minutes, he just ate silently — he hadn’t eaten properly in nearly two days,” Viveck shared. “After finishing, he looked at me and said, ‘Do you know, Vivek? My mother is dying.’ I was stunned and didn’t know how to respond. He then spoke about her multiple organ disease, his sister, and Gauri. That night, he opened up like never before. Time just flew by as he spoke.”

Viveck added that they later sat by Marine Drive, talking endlessly through the night over cups of coffee. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him to go sleep elsewhere,” he said. “I let him stay at my place.”

During that period, Shah Rukh also introduced Viveck to his close friend Raman, a pilot who was visiting Mumbai from Delhi. “SRK was excited that we would get to eat food from the Taj — he wanted tandoori chicken and coffee,” Vivek recalled. “Raman and he were very close. After that, SRK returned with me to my house and ended up staying for three days, wearing my clothes.”

Viveck continued, “He stayed with me until a few days before Christmas. Then, we were invited to a party at La Pepe — the building where Jackie Shroff and Zeenat Aman lived. SRK and I went, had a few drinks, and enjoyed ourselves. I dropped him at the airport later, and as soon as I stopped the car, he vomited everything out.”

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When Shah Rukh reached Delhi, his mother’s condition had worsened. “He called me and said he needed medicines. I borrowed money from my father, bought them, and sent them through Raman at the airport. Later, I took a flight to Delhi myself. I met Gauri, then his mother at the hospital. She couldn’t speak,” Viveck recalled.

Around that time, producer Vikram Malhotra approached SRK with a film offer. “But he was clear he didn’t want to do movies,” Viveck said. “He told me Gauri wouldn’t like him hugging other actresses. He was happy doing television, so I didn’t push him. Still, Vikram insisted he travel to Shimla for a three-day shoot. I went along, and that’s where I met Ketan Mehta for the first time — the film was Maya Memsaab. It was an art film, similar in tone to his TV work. He did it before his mother passed away.”

“After the shoot, we returned to Delhi. SRK dropped me at the airport, with Gauri and Raman there to see me off,” Viveck recalled. “Just a few days later, his mother passed away.”

Ten days after the funeral, Shah Rukh was back in Mumbai. “It was 4 in the morning when my doorbell rang,” Viveck said. “I opened the door to find Shah Rukh standing there with huge bags. He didn’t come in — he just said, ‘Will you do a film with me?’ I reminded him that he didn’t want to do films, and he said, ‘I do now. It was my mother’s dream to see me as a superstar. To fulfil that dream, I have to become an actor. And I can only come to you and ask you to make a film with me.’”

Vivek continued, “He left his bags at my place, and we went to the President Hotel, ordered coffee, and that’s where Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman was born.”

Although that was the first film they discussed, Shah Rukh’s actual debut came earlier with Rishi Kapoor’s Deewana, followed by Chamatkar with Naseeruddin Shah in 1992. Later that year, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman released and went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year — and the film that truly announced Shah Rukh Khan’s arrival as the new face of Bollywood.