{"id":615495,"date":"2026-09-05T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615495\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T17:32:11","slug":"shah-rukh-khan-said-im-a-pathaan-just-shoot-me-if-you-want-sanjay-gupta-recalled-how-the-superstar-refused-to-bow-down-to-underworld-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615495\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Shah Rukh Khan said I’m a Pathaan, just shoot me if you want,’ Sanjay Gupta recalled how the superstar refused to bow down to underworld threats |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Shah Shah Rukh Khan<\/a>\u2019s rise to superstardom coincided with a period when Mumbai\u2019s underworld had a strong and often intimidating presence in Bollywood. Actors, filmmakers and producers were sometimes subjected to threats and pressure, and Shah Rukh too found himself on the radar of gangsters. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta<\/a> has now recalled how the actor refused to be intimidated and stood his ground despite the risks involved.Gupta said Shah Rukh responded to the threats in unusually defiant fashion. According to the filmmaker, the actor made it clear that he would not allow anyone to dictate the films or shows he worked on.He said on Hussain Zaidi’s podcast, “The only guy in the film industry, Shah Rukh Khan, when he was threatened, he said, \u2018I will never do the film or show, I am a Pathaan, just shoot me if you want\u2019. I am not scared of you, but I will not work with you and not do shows for you. He actually earned their respect. They also must have felt that there\u2019s at least one person\u2026\u201dDespite his bold stance, the threats were serious enough for Shah Rukh to remain under police and security protection for around three years.The actor had previously opened up about the dangers he faced during the 1990s in an interview with comedian and actor Ruby Wax. Recalling how the underworld allegedly operated, Shah Rukh explained the pressure stars could face when they refused to cooperate.\u201cThey would set up a system, and they would say you do it. I may not have succumbed to it, but then they shoot you. So, sometimes it\u2019s nice to do a film,\u201d he said.Wax then sought clarification, asking, \u201cYou\u2019re seriously saying someone calls you and says be in my film or I\u2019ll blow your head off?\u201dShah Rukh confirmed that the reality was even more disturbing than Wax\u2019s description.\u201cNot as nicely as you\u2019re saying it.\u201d When asked whether he had personally received death threats, the actor did not hesitate.\u201cOh yes, on many occasions\u2026 I had a lot of security for three years.Shah Rukh\u2019s willingness to confront threats was also recalled by filmmaker Karan Johar<\/a> in his autobiography An Unsuitable Boy. Johar described an incident in which he himself faced pressure from the underworld around the release of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.According to Johar, Shah Rukh refused to let the situation intimidate either of them. He wrote, \u201cShah Rukh said, \u2018What nonsense!\u2019 He went inside and dragged me out. He said, \u2018I\u2019m standing here in front of you. Let\u2019s see who shoots you. I\u2019m standing right here.\u2019\u201dJohar further recalled Shah Rukh reassuring his mother and making it clear that he would stand by his friend.\u201cI\u2019m a Pathan. Nothing can happen to me and nothing will happen to your son. He\u2019s like my brother. Nothing\u2019s gonna happen.\u201dThe relationship between Mumbai\u2019s film industry and the underworld was not a new phenomenon, but the nexus became increasingly visible during the late 1980s and 1990s. Allegations involving illegal financing, interference in film projects and threats against industry figures brought the issue into sharper focus.The 1997 killing of music baron Gulshan Kumar became one of the most high-profile incidents highlighting the risks associated with the alleged nexus. The issue resurfaced prominently in 2001 with the Chori Chori Chupke Chupke case, which led to the arrest of financier Bharat Shah and producer Nazim Rizvi over alleged links to gangster Chhota Shakeel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shah Rukh Khan\u2019s rise to superstardom coincided with a period when Mumbai\u2019s underworld had a strong and often…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[261126,261122,261124,93,61,60,8554,261125,270,173593,76883,112340,1266,261123],"class_list":["post-615495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-abu-salem","tag-bollywood-underworld-threats","tag-chhota-rajan","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-karan-johar","tag-king-of-bollywood-book","tag-movies","tag-mumbai-film-industry","tag-mumbai-police","tag-sanjay-gupta","tag-shah-rukh-khan","tag-shah-rukh-khan-security-threats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}