Karan Johar has often spoken about meeting Shah Rukh Khan in the late 1980s at Aanand Mahendroo’s office, where the actor rejected a role in Indradhanush (1989), the show marking Karan’s acting debut. Karan thought him arrogant at first. They later collaborated on ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995), with Karan as assistant director, co-actor and costume stylist.
Aanand Mahendroo’s version of Shah Rukh Khan’s story
Aanand Mahendroo, however, remembers the incident differently. Speaking on Screen Spotlight earlier this year, the filmmaker said, “How Karan says it is with a little masala: ‘Mujhe serial-verial nahi karna hai (I don’t want to do any serials)!’ That’s not how Shah Rukh is.” He confirmed that he had offered Shah Rukh the role of Bala, the elder brother of protagonist Appu, and that the actor had initially agreed to play it. The part eventually went to Akshay Anand.
Why Shah Rukh Khan visited Aanand Mahendroo’s office
The reason behind Shah Rukh Khan’s visit was a big one: he had landed his debut film, Ketan Mehta’s musical parody ‘Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India’, and couldn’t commit to the show. But the shoot ran well past schedule, and it was Raj Kanwar’s ‘Deewana’, an action romance, that released first in 1992, a few years down the line.
Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo in ‘Rajani’ after stardom
Even stardom didn’t change Khan’s equation with Aanand, the filmmaker says. After ‘Darr’ turned him into a big name, he still agreed to a cameo in Mahendroo’s TV show ‘Rajani’, directed by Basu Chatterjee. “Had that (Shah Rukh being arrogant) been the case, then I wouldn’t have such good relations with him that years later, after Darr became a hit, we’d work for a whole day together on Rajani. The next day, he allowed us to shoot in his house in Bandra,” recalled Mahendroo.
Shah Rukh Khan’s Delhi days with Aanand Mahendroo
Mahendroo’s association with Shah Rukh goes back to the days when the actor was still struggling and hadn’t yet moved from his hometown, Delhi, to Mumbai. Mahendroo recounted, “I used to have an office in Delhi as well, and Shah Rukh would come there to meet me. I liked the guy. He was a member of Qutub Club, and would take me bowling. He would take me to Paranthe Wali Gali at night, put music on full blast, stand on top of the car, and sing Govinda’s song ‘Kaali Aankhen Miss India,’” referring to the popular dance track from Ajay Kashyap’s 1996 film ‘Zordaar’.He described Shah Rukh as “very uninhibited,” as well as “smart and polished” and someone who “understands cinema.” To show how clear the actor was about his career, the filmmaker recalled that his family friend, the legendary Basu Bhattacharya, once offered Shah Rukh a role in a film. Shah Rukh turned it down, telling him, “I’m not interested in doing intellectual films. There are quite a few actors in the industry already, I want to be a star.” Mahendroo added, “The best thing is, he’s very clear about what he wants to do and doesn’t.”
Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of ‘Pardes’
By the time they were working on Subhash Ghai’s ‘Pardes’ (1997), Aanand and Shah Rukh had grown close enough to share a smoke on set. “I saw a bit of myself in him. He just wouldn’t go to the makeup room. Even when they were taking Mahima’s shots or choreographer Ahmed Khan would be shooting something with the junior artistes, he’d remain on set. He was living cinema all the time. And that’s what resonated a lot with me,” added the filmmaker.