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Throwback: “Shah Rukh Khan, till the end, didn’t understand Karan Arjun,” recalled Rakesh Roshan

en Bollywood News Throwback: “Shah Rukh Khan, till the end, didn’t understand Karan Arjun,” recalled Rakesh Roshan

Directed by Rakesh Roshan, Karan Arjun completed 30 years on January 13, 2025.

Rakesh Roshan’s 2000 blockbuster Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai is in the news currently as it has re-released in theatres to celebrate its 25th anniversary. But along with the Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel starrer, his other iconic movie Karan Arjun completed 30 years a couple of days back on January 13.

Throwback: “Shah Rukh Khan, till the end, didn’t understand Karan Arjun,” recalled Rakesh Roshan

Rakesh Roshan shared a lot of anecdotes related to the film at the end of last year when Karan Arjun had re-released in theatres. But in a five-year-old interview with this writer for Cinestaan.com, the filmmaker shared that before the film went on floors, hardly anyone believed in the story, including one of its lead actors Shah Rukh Khan.

Along with him, Karan Arjun starred Salman Khan, Rakhee Gulzar, Amrish Puri, Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni. The film was about two brothers Karan (Salman) and Arjun (Shah Rukh) getting killed and later getting reincarnated to avenge their death. All this while, their mother, played by Rakhee, had faith that they would return even after death.

While sharing the film’s rough idea, Roshan had said in the interview, “She (Rakhee) is just waiting for her sons to return. It doesn’t matter if they come from Mars, Jupiter or the moon. But if they just return, it is going to work. This was my thought.”

However, the filmmaker said that nobody believed in the story. “Whenever I narrated the story to my actors and technicians, they all used to say, ‘Don’t make it, it’s not going to connect’. I was the only person who was confident. I felt this will work. Sometimes faith works a lot,” he said.

Interestingly, SRK, who gave a convincing performance as Arjun in the movie, didn’t understand the story, as per Roshan. “Shah Rukh till the end did not understand,” said the filmmaker. “Although he acted in the whole film, he said, ‘Rakeshji, you tell me what to do and I will do it, but I am not convinced with this.’ Rakhee was also not convinced. Amrish Puri was a good friend of mine, so he said, ‘I will do what you ask me to’. Most of the people around me weren’t convinced with the story.”

In the same interview, Roshan shared that the character of Karan was earlier supposed to be played by Ajay Devgn. However, Ajay and SRK once interchanged their characters and informed the same to Roshan. The filmmaker was aghast as he couldn’t imagine Khan as Karan and Ajay as Arjun. Eventually, Ajay left the film and SRK was back to playing Arjun.

Ajay was later replaced by Salman Khan, who became the first person from the cast to believe in the concept of Karan Arjun. “Salman was the only one who was convinced,” said Roshan.

The filmmaker also recalled Salman’s reaction during the trial show of Karan Arjun. “After two reels, Salman came and hugged me and said, ‘You have made a superhit film’. Salim Khan (Salman’s father and veteran screenwriter) said, ‘You don’t know what you have made, it’s going to be a big hit.’ I said I have no idea but thank you so much for saying such good words as this means a lot to me,” recalled Roshan.

Also Read: When Karan Arjun brought India to a standstill: The untold story of its phenomenal box office frenzy

More Pages: Karan Arjun Box Office Collection


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