Bollywood is a close-knit operation, and many times certain actors get paired with particular directors, producers, playback singers and even other actors. The high frequency of these collaborations occurs because of the chemistry between the two parties, and Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan are one of the best examples of this phenomenon. In a recent masterclass, Farah opened up about working with Shah Rukh from the early days of his career, and their relationship was never like two colleagues but something much more meaningful and fun.
While conducting a masterclass in choreography and direction, Farah shared insights and tips from the early days of her career, along with the thought process she follows when visualizing steps for a dance number. She opened up about her time working as a choreographer for Kundan Shah’s 1994 film Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa and shared some anecdotes about working with Shah Rukh. She said, “With him, the fun lay in the fact that when we were doing the film, he wasn’t an established star, and we all had that informal relationship with each other. We used to party together, him, me and Gauri, and because we were all close to the same age, we had the same sense of humour and similar habits. I was never in awe of him because we were very comfortable with each other, but I always knew that there was something very special about him.”
Farah Khan added that Shah Rukh Khan was extremely understanding and helpful on the set of the film and worked much more than he had to just to keep the movie going. “It was great to have him on set. He was always running around and helping me because there were no assistants. Kundan was saving money back then, and we couldn’t afford the extra people, so he was always ready to help. Amusingly I got paid more than anyone who worked on that film, even more than Shah Rukh. He got around 25k, and I was supposed to get 5k for each song, and I ended up doing six songs, so I got 30k for that movie.”
Exactly 10 years after working together in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, the duo would come together once again. This time for Mai Hoon Na (2004), which was Farah’s directorial debut and is still one of Shah Rukh’s most loved films. The two worked as director and actor in two more films, Om Shanti Om (2007) and Happy New Year (2014).
