Aditya Chopra And Farhan Akhtar On Working With 'Shah Rukh Khan'

In Samar Khan’s new biography of Shah Rukh Khan, SRK 25 Years Of A Life, the actor’s many collaborators through the years describe what it’s like to work with him. In this excerpt, Aditya Chopra and Farhan Akhtar spill the beans.

- Samar Khan

Aditya Chopra on his films with Shah Rukh Khan:

I’ve made three movies with Shah Rukh — Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Mohabbatein and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Over time, the stories evolved and changed, but yes, in a way, all of Shah Rukh’s three characters draw from each other and are interconnected. When I thought of how Raj would be 10 years after DDLJ, if he had lost the love of his life, the answer was Raj Aryan Malhotra. That was the starting point for his character in Mohabbatein. With Surinder Sahni, I was trying to portray the Raj that is hidden in each one of us. In our own love stories, we are all Raj and Simran. But just because we don’t have the paraphernalia — the leather jackets and the Harley Davidsons — is our story any lesser? It was a very sudden realisation brought about by a very everyday thing. I saw someone from my office buy flowers and chocolates for his girlfriend or wife. And it made me realise that deep down, we all try to be the Raj that we see on screen. Surinder Sahni is that common man who is trying to bring a little bit of the magic of movies in his own married life.