Sidharth Malhotra recalls his first meeting with Shah Rukh Khan

• Sidharth Malhotra worked as an assistant director on Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan.
• He first encountered Shah Rukh Khan while working on the set of the film.
• The veteran performer helped him feel more comfortable around the more experienced actor.

The actor Sidharth Malhotra recalled his first encounter with Shah Rukh Khan, who was working as an assistant director on the set of My Name is Khan.

He admitted that he had no words to say to the more experienced actor, but Shah Rukh later helped him feel more at ease.

Sidharth Malhotra served as an assistant director on Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan prior to making his acting debut in the 2012 film Student Of The Year with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt (2010).

Before being introduced by the banner themselves, he and Varun worked on the Dharma Productions set. In a recent interview, the actor recalled his interactions with Shah Rukh Khan while filming My Name Is Khan. Given that he knew Sidharth wanted to be an actor, the veteran performer even offered him some advice.

Sidharth revealed that his parents were unsure that anyone would cast him in a movie when he first moved to Mumbai at the age of 21. He was able to secure a film, but it was never produced.

When the project’s directors were changed, Sidharth quit, telling the new directors that he no longer believed in the idea. He later changed to being an assistant director because, despite never having attended film school, he could pick things up and learn on a real film set.

He got to interact with an idol of his, so it was a wise choice. Sidharth discussed his first day of filming with Shah Rukh Khan in Los Angeles with actor-comedian Zakir Khan in a recent interview posted on Netflix India’s YouTube channel.

He recalled, “I had rehearsed for the clap so I wouldn’t fumble in front of him. He was very sweet. His warmth is quite apparent. It might be because of his upbringing. He makes everyone around him comfortable. On the first day, I couldn’t speak at all.”

Later, as they were filming a scene, Shah Rukh even started to counsel him. Shared by Sidharth, “Only Shah Rukh sir and I were at that location. It was somewhere on a road. He suddenly started talking to me, ‘You know you should always first come and see if you can use anything on location as a prop.’ I thought, ‘There’s just two of us here, who’s he talking to?’ Because he knew that I wanted to be an actor. So very sweetly, he was telling me, ‘You have to see if you can use anything.’ He’s very sharp that way. He creates many things on the spot. From there, my respect and my love for him grew even more.”

On January 20, Mission Majnu, a new movie starring Sidharth and Rashmika Mandanna, made its Netflix debut. In July 2023, he will also appear in Yodha, an action thriller starring Disha Patani and Raashii Khanna.

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