Cut
to a guy who is so obsessed with his girlfriend that he came to Mumbai and searched
for her with only the information that she loved swimming. He
sold his Pentax camera for Rs 10,000, as he combed beaches with hope and prayer
that he would locate her, sleeping on the park benches, and cleaning and bathing
in the hotel bathrooms. His friends lost hope and purchased tickets with the balance
remaining money while he for the last time combed the north Mumbai beaches and
luckily found her. Sitting forlorn
at the Marine Drive in Mumbai, he promised that one day he would rule the city
of Mumbai. In his one of his first
castings for a movie produced and directed by Arundhati Roy, he was given a role
of an extra and he vowed that he would one day win an Oscar playing a gay man. He
came to Mumbai to act in a serial and got stranded at the Mumbai airport in the
middle of the night as the person who was supposed to pick him up overslept, he
cried in the telephone booth thinking that probably it was a hoax while searching
for some coins. He was recommended
for the role of Abhimanyu Rai (Fauji)by the son in-law of the producer who was
showing some flats to his mother. The original choice of the main lead was the
producer's son who was also the camera man in the serial. He
got the role as there was a logistic problem of handling the camera and the role
simultaneously by the producer's son. His
role became bigger and bigger as the other co- stars threw tantrums while he worked
hard to get the nuances right as an army officer. This
choice of being always the second or the third choice continued with the movie
Baazigar where the other established starts like Aamir, Anil Kapoor were the first
choice, but they refused to touch the movie where the main character kills without
any compunctions and "is a murderer in the movie" The
same continued with Darr where he was selected with great reluctance as no established
actor wanted to be seen being beaten to pulp at the end in the movie. Juhi
Chawla shrieked as she was persuaded by the director/producer that this actor
was at that time going to be another Aamir Khan in making when she met him for
the first time during the shooting of Darr. She
could not get over the fact that he was so dark with wild unruly hair in comparison
to Aamir and Salman Khan who were recently launched during the same time Both
the movies were superhits blockbuster and he went on to bag the Filmfare best
actor award for Baazigar . He went to meet Abbas- Mastan(directors of Bazigar)at
2 o' clock after the ceremony at their residence in Bhendi bazaar chawl and touched
their feet.
He initially refused to
do Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge with Aditya Chopra as he thought of it as a romantic
cliché. He only agreed to do it as he liked the last scene where the father
lets go of the heroine's hand .
He
never wanted to be the Bollywood star but a television personality like Oprah
Winfrey and refused movies in the beginning. His fiancé and later his wife
had strong reservations against him joining the Bollywood . He
grandly declared that if he had to choose between his flourishing career in the
movie or his wife. He would always choose his wife over everything else. He
initially refused to do the movie Chamatkar when the producer insisted that he
should hide his marriage as was the norm at that time. He
also refused to tell a lie to his in laws who were dead against his marriage to
their hindu daughter. His fiancé and later wife insisted that he tell his
in -laws that he has Rs. 6 lacs in his bank when he only had Rs 28000/- in his
bank account. He refused to do so
and grandly proclaimed during that time that Dilip Kumar had become old, Amitabh
Bachchan had retired and it was his time now to crowned as the king when he left
Delhi for Mumbai to start his career in bollywood. Gradually,
he became the superstar giving one hit after the another. He has always charged
lesser than his fellow actors while doing the films as he feels that all the name
and fame he has is due to the film industry and makes up with the brand endorsements.
He
claims that he can do anything -dance, shows ... for money except films. Films
he does only for love. He also went
into production and promised to make different kind of movies - His first movie
Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani made with blood, and tears flopped and the critics,
media were savage in their attacks. He
also faced scary days when the mafia started targeting film wallahs. The mafia
used to call him and threaten and chat with him. With his common sense and smart
wit he managed to escape them. He
has always maintained a tight balance between handling the mafia and as a law
abiding citizen. This is the roller
coaster life journey of todays superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Need
less to say picture abhi baki hai
mere dost.... Adapted
from Shahrukh's Biography by Anupama Chopra
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