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Yash Chopra said action before Chammak Challo, Karan Johar shot a few scenes in Ra.One, reveals Anubhav Sinha

Anubhav Sinha clarified about Yash Chopra’s involvement in Chammak Challo and also revealed that Karan Johar shot a few scenes in Ra.One.

Chammak Challo became a huge sensation when it came out.

If we cut back to October 2011, even for a minute, there was immense anticipation around Shah Rukh Khan’s Diwali release Ra.One, helmed by Anubhav Sinha. Among the many talking points in the lead-up to the film was the song Chammak Challo, sung by Akon, featuring Kareena Kapoor dancing alongside SRK. As the song’s popularity surged, rumours also began circulating that Yash Chopra, and not Anubhav Sinha, had shot the track. In an exclusive chat with SCREEN, Anubhav opened up about those reports, clarifying that although the late legendary filmmaker did not direct the song, he was connected to the moment in an unexpected way.

“We were shooting Chammak Challo at Yash Raj Films. And a very big political leader was visiting us, some foreign leader. So Yash ji was sitting on set alongside that leader who had come to see Shah Rukh Khan shoot a film. And Yash ji had a very peculiar speech pattern, not everybody could comprehend it. So the song started playing and Yash ji, from a distance, called me and said, ‘Anubhav, should I say action?’ And I couldn’t understand what he was saying as the music was also playing simultaneously, loud. Then Shah Rukh came running and told me that he wants to say action. So I immediately went to him, touched his feet, and said, ‘If you would say action on my set, my life would be made.’ Just imagine, Yash Chopra, at my film set, saying action. That would be so huge. I was always a devotee of his cinema. So I said, ‘Sir, please.’”

Anubhav added that this moment was later twisted by sections of the media, who falsely reported that Yash Chopra had directed it. “So next day it was in Bombay Times that Yash ji is directing, which I think was hugely disrespectful to him.” He then clarified the truth: for two days, some scenes were indeed shot by Karan Johar, but for a very practical reason. “A car-throwing sequence overshot by a day, and the next day I was supposed to shoot those scenes, and then we got stuck. So either I stayed at the action sequence, which was complex, or I went there. And Karan was in town. I proposed to Shah Rukh, ‘Okay, these are three scenes. You and Karan, please go ahead and shoot it.’ So Karan shot it. I think two or three scenes inside the house, the family house in London, were shot by him, which is not a big deal.”

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Earlier in the same conversation, Anubhav had spoken candidly about the atmosphere during the release of Ra.One, recalling how many seemed to be waiting for the film, and for Shah Rukh Khan, to fail. “It had become fashionable to run Ra.One down. Also, Shah Rukh had had a massive, uninterrupted run as the undisputed star and king. He actually is. And we like ruins, no? You know, when we go to Rajasthan, to those forts and castles, we like to see the ruins. There’s a vicarious pleasure in that, knowing that, oh, there used to be a king who used to reside here, but he doesn’t exist anymore. So, you know, similarly, they wanted to see Shah Rukh fall. And it sort of temporarily happened with Ra.One.”

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