Chalte Chalte, a film on marital discord, has gone on to become one
of the biggest successes of the year.
There were reports that the film was similar to Shaad Ali's
Saathiya. The box office tells a different story. People loved it.
And the one reason for the film's success is Shah Rukh Khan.
"I believe Chalte Chalte is the biggest hit of the year. That is
what distributors tell me," says Khan just before leaving for London
for his monthly post-surgery checkup. From London, SRK leaves for
the US for a 90-day schedule of Karan Johar's Kal Ho Na Ho, co-
starring Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta and Jaya Bachchan.
According to Khan, Chalte Chalte was meant to be a sweet homely film
in the genre of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee
films. "Remember how Amol Palekar's films used to steal into
theatres in the 1970s? Chalte Chalte is a working-class romantic
comedy. It came quietly and became a sleeper hit."
Khan, who starred in Devdas, one of the biggest success of 2002,
says he was confident Chalte Chalte would get a big opening: "After
all, it was my first release in a year. But we never overplayed our
cards. We never said Chalte Chalte is the greatest show on earth,
but a nice way to spend an evening. It is a difficult film to
define. You can only prove what you have in mind by making it. In
theory, it sounds like a run-of-the-mill, incident-based film like
Hollywood's romantic comedies."
Not many know that SRK shot 70 per cent of Chalte Chalte in acute
pain. "I had doctors and ambulances on the sets. Fortunately, Chalte
Chalte didn't require me to be too physical except for that scene
where I fall over luggage trolleys at the airport. Doubles can't do
it the way I can. I decided to do it because three days later, I was
leaving for my surgery anyway. But everyone including [actor] Satish
Shah tried to stop me. I said I would just do it once. I did it
twice. I didn't get hurt at all."
Khan needs to take great care before he gets back in action. "I am
supposed to be on the road to recovery. For a year, I have to take
things easy. I have my good and bad moments. Mornings aren't good.
Till about 2 pm, I feel a lot of pain. When I bend down or play with
my kids, I get some pain in the neck. It is okay. Inshallah (God
willing), the pain will disappear one fine morning. For now I have
to go to London every month for a checkup."
In June, Khan resumed shooting with Farah Khan's directorial debut
Main Hoon Na and Kal Ho Na Ha, directed by Karan Johar's former
assistant Nikhil Advani.
"I had the sets put up next to my house at Mehboob Studios [in
Mumbai's suburb Bandra]," he says. "I had easy scenes. I shot from
about 2 pm to 7 pm. Now, I am off to shoot for Karan Johar in New
York. I plan to finish Kal Ho Na Ha and then wrap Farah's film."
Khan will move on to his assignments with Ashutosh Gowariker
[Swades] and [a film with] Yash Chopra. "I will do only one film at
a time," he says.
The success of Chalte Chalte has brought Khan's production house
Dreamz Unlimited -- in partnership with director Aziz Mirza and Juhi
Chawla -- back in business.
The company suffered considerable financial losses after the failure
of their earlier two films, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Asoka.
Khan does not regret it. "I don't think we did anything wrong in the
earlier films. Our ground rules for filmmaking didn't change just
because the other two films didn't do well. This time too [with
Chalte Chalte], we did exactly what we wanted.
"Like PBDHH and Asoka, we marketed it cheap to make sure
distributors didn't suffer any losses. Thankfully, we weren't wrong.
Both the audience and the media were kind to us. It is the kind of
film everyone felt kind toward, since everyone has fights at home
with the spouse. So far it is the biggest hit this year. As a
producer, this is a new experience for me."
It isn't profits that Khan is concerned about. "God has given me so
much," he says. "Whatever he takes away from me, even if it is a
piece of [my] spine, it seems like a fair deal. He has been more
than fair to me. Every day, I have to find new ways of thanking him.
Since I am not up to the job alone, I have roped in my wife [Gauri],
sister [Shehnaz], children [Aryan and Suhana] and close friends."
He also refutes rumours that he has bought property in
Delhi. "Everyone's asking me that. But it is not true. My wife Gauri
has a house in Delhi, which is as good as mine. I don't have money
to buy any new property. Though I am the richest human being in the
world. "
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