Vaibhavi Merchant reveals how Shah Rukh Khan endured lengthy sessions of prosthetic makeup for Jawan song: ‘Even though we were on AC set, he would sweat’

Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant revealed Shah Rukh Khan switched looks and endured lengthy sessions of prosthetic makeup when he shot for Jawan's song "Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya".

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | October 31, 2023 07:29 PM IST

4 min read

Jawan features Shah Rukh Khan playing the roles of Vikram Rathore and his son Azad.

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Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan’s song “Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya” became a hit with the audience the moment it was released. The song also served as a perfect culmination of the film when Shah Rukh Khan’s characters – Vikram Rathore and his son Azad – grooved together on the screen. The song was choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant, who in a recent interview, shared some behind-the-scenes details of the song.

In an interview with Zoom, Vaibhavi revealed the extraordinary effort put in by SRK for “Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya”, as he had to shoot both the father and the son characters simultaneously. She mentioned that Shah Rukh switched looks and endured lengthy sessions of prosthetic makeup, which took about two-and-a-half hours. The choreographer shared that transitioning between the son and father characters was a complex process due to the extensive makeup.

Vaibhavi Merchant told Zoom, “The prosthetic makeup used to take Shah Rukh two-and-a-half hours on the chair. So for him to go from the son’s character to the father’s character and for me to do that on Bolt. We shot it with this special camera that is a motion control camera called the Bolt, which itself takes about two-and-a-half-hours to program. So, we used to be pre-programmed and then he would do one character, then go back, take two hours on the chair.”

She added, “Like we would always do the father’s character first because that would take time, then switch him back. It would take time for him to get into the son’s character because he would have to take out all the prosthetics. Now, mind you, even though we were on an AC set, he would sweat a lot.”

Also read | Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan is not what we deserve, but the film we need right now

Complimenting the 57-year-old actor, Vaibhavi said, “To spend hours and hours to be waiting there when we were setting up shots, it’s very tough. It’s not easy. It was so tough. And then to make him dance the way he’s danced. I think it takes a different kind of DNA to be able to pull that off. They’re made differently, you know, not everybody can do this, obviously.”

She also disclosed that “Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya” was originally intended to be shot in Abu Dhabi. However, due to the extreme heat and Shah Rukh Khan wearing layers of prosthetics, they had to cancel the outdoor shoot. The song was ultimately shot in 15 days.

Apart from praising SRK’s work ethic, Vaibhavi also lauded the actor for going out of the way to take care of the team. She said, “Shah Rukh had a lot of responsibilities, not just as the actor of the film, but also as the producer, co-creator of the film. Literally, he had to bring in a lot. He came in to support the director and to support the entire cast so that nobody is feeling that, you know, all the privileges are towards him.”

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The choreographer added, “In fact, he has bent backwards to ensure that every actor in the film or every tertiary cast, secondary cast, primary cast, technicians, HODs, heads of departments, each and everybody was well looked after by Red Chillies and Shah Rukh.”

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