It may be surprising to many that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who has dominated the Indian film industry for nearly three decades, initially refused to work in movies. The reason, it turns out, was his wife, Gauri Khan.
This revelation was recently made by actor and producer Vivek Vaswani in an interview. He explained that during the start of his showbiz career, Shah Rukh Khan was facing significant financial difficulties and stress, as he was also caring for his sick mother and sister.
Vaswani recalled that during this challenging period, producer Vikram Malhotra offered Shah Rukh a film. However, the actor turned it down, stating, “I don’t want to work in films.”
According to Vaswani, when he questioned Shah Rukh about the refusal, the actor admitted, “Gauri Khan does not like me getting too close to actresses, so I will only work in TV dramas.”
Despite the rejection, Malhotra eventually convinced Shah Rukh to join him for a 3-day shoot in Shimla. It was there, Vaswani explained, that Shah Rukh Khan met director Ketan Mehta, who offered him the film Maya Memsaab.
Shah Rukh accepted that role because he felt it was an “art film” and very similar in style to the television shows, like Fauji and Circus, that he had started his career with.
