Shah Rukh Khan Says Aditya Chopra Convinced Him To Work In DDLJ

Shah Rukh was at first hesitant to play the romantic lead but Aditya successfully convinced him to do the film.

New Delhi: Many fond memories and amusing tales related to Yash Chopra's filmmaking approach have been uncovered with the latest release, ‘The Romantics’. The four-part Netflix documentary followed Aditya Chopra as he worked as an assistant to the groundbreaking director. ‘The Romantics’ depicts Aditya's time as CEO of YRF, during which he established India's largest production company and continued his father's legacy. Among the Bollywood stars questioned by Smriti Mundhra, was Shah Rukh Khan, who is presently revelling in the success of ‘Pathaan’. 

Actor Shah Rukh, who did some rather impressive work in the YRF espionage thriller, has always had his sights set on action films. But ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (DDLJ) and ‘Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai’ made him a star as the dashing love interest.

Shah Rukh was at first hesitant to play the romantic lead but Aditya successfully convinced him to do the film. According to Aditya Chopra's comments in the documentary, SRK's eyes "have something that cannot be wasted on action," meaning that the actor should branch out from merely doing action movies. 

Shah Rukh did not sign up for the project for a long time, despite Aditya's frequent requests. Aditya recounted being at the "end of my patience," contemplating whether or not he should hunt for another hero.

The director shared how an elderly woman's comments on the ‘Trimurti’ sets helped to convince SRK to join the cast of DDLJ. An elderly woman in her eighties walked up to Shah Rukh and said, "Beta, tu bahut accha hai. Itna accha kaam karta hai. Par tu har film mein marta hai aur har film mein khoon hota hai. Mujhe accha nahin lagta (Son, you are really good. Your work is remarkable. But you die in every film and there is bloodshed, I don’t like it)".

After 15 minutes, SRK and Aditya talked, and Aditya said, “I’m feeling you are hesitant and you are not being able to say no to me.”

As he continued, he said, “I would just advise you that don’t shut your doors on ever doing a love story because in this country a superstar will only be that person who will be every mother’s son, every sister’s brother, every college girl’s fantasy.” 

This stuck with Shah Rukh, and when they saw each other again, Shah Rukh said yes to the movie.

Meanwhile, everyone who has seen DDLJ knows that it holds the record for the longest theatrical run of any Indian film. In addition to Kajol and SRK, the late Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Anupam Kher, Parmeet Sethi, and Mandira Bedi also had significant parts in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’.