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EXCLUSIVE: Karan Johar recalls his first meeting with Shah Rukh Khan: 'Was swept away by magic of SRK in no time'
Karan Johar, in an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, shared some interesting anecdotes of his first meeting with Shah Rukh Khan. Read on to know.
Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar are masters in their craft. Their bond of friendship needs no introduction, which spans nearly 30 years now. The two have collaborated on various successful and iconic projects including My Name Is Khan and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai amongst others. However, how did this bond develop? The Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani director recently sat for an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla and recalled his first meeting with the Jawan star.
Karan Johar's interesting first meeting with Shah Rukh Khan
Karan Johar, in an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla, walked down memory lane, recalling his first meeting Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of Karan Arjun in 1993 when he accompanied his father there.
The filmmaker shared, “My dad was offering him Duplicate at that time, and they were discussing dates and money, etc. and Kajol was on that set. They were shooting for Jaati Hun Main (song) and I remembered calling Kajol, I said I am coming with my father, I don’t know anyone, at least you’ll be there. So, she was like yeah I am there, so I went but by the time I reached she was giving her shot, so she was busy.”
KJo continued, “Shah Rukh was wearing this bright Orange Levis shirt. You know you had built a perception and heard about movie stars and how they are, and I had this impression that movie stars are a certain way my father was a producer, and he dealt with many. For Shah Rukh, there was a lot of talk that he’s actually kind of arrogant not arrogant like he knew what he was doing, and he comes from drama and theater and all that but in one minute I was just swept away by the magic of Shah Rukh Khan because he was not only just charming, chatty he kept asking me questions about my school and college.”
Karan Johar speaks highly of Shah Rukh Khan
Heaping praises on the qualities of the Pathaan star, Karan Johar called him ‘personable’ and further continued sharing, “He looks into your eye and speaks to you and that is the most beautiful part about Shah Rukh Khan that when he is with you, he is present with you. He doesn’t give a damn about who you are and where you come from, and in five minutes I think I had become a fan. I was like Oh my God! He is the most amazing human being I think I’ve ever met. He was magical. I feel like most people who haven’t met Shah Rukh Khan have missed out because that is like that moment and it remains still today. He is majestic, of course, but he is magnetic.”
The actual first meeting of Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan
Nonetheless, this wasn’t their first meeting. Karan Johar, further, recollected his childhood memories of doing a television show, which he refers to being ‘embarrassed’ about. The show was called Indradhanush. He divulged, “When I was 15 years old. Anand Mahendru, the director, called my mother and said do you have a very fat son and I was very large I would say plus size today. I was very plus-sized, and my mother was very defensive and she said no he has puppy fat. It’ll go but he wanted a very plus-sized person for his serial. So I went to his office to audition. It was summer holidays and I’d just done my 10th standard.”
Karan Johar looked back on the memories of him sitting in Mahendru’s office. He shared, “There was somebody sitting right next to me doing the crossword and drinking tea. We sat for a couple of hours because Anand was busy editing. I sat, we just stared at each other once or twice. I continued staring into space because I didn’t know what to do, I was so stressed. It was all new for me. Anand walked out and went to this person and said okay we are making this show called Indradhanush and he’s like you know, No, I just came to tell you that I don’t want to do TV anymore. I want to do a film but I really like the tea in your office and I wanted to finish the crossword and he left. Anand ji said, how strange was that? I said Anand Ji I find him very familiar, who is he, so he said his name is Shah Rukh Khan and he did Fauji. So, I was like yeah."
The show and the role offered to SRK were later done by Akshay Anand. “It is so bizarre that many years later when I told him," he remembered. Karan Johar revealed how SRK reacted and mentioned the Jawan actor said, "Oh! It was you sitting opposite to me!"
"He said so because we literally faced each other in a tiny room for 4 hours without speaking to each other, but who knew at that point that this particular incident and this particular moment would be so defining for me in my career,” KJO continued, concluding with a smile.
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