30 Years of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa: Shah Rukh Khan was paid Rs. 5,000 as signing amount; due to date issues, he was taken away at GUNPOINT to the sets of Deewana; SRK cried when film stock got over on last day 30 : Bollywood News

30 Years of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa: Shah Rukh Khan was paid Rs. 5,000 as signing amount; due to date issues, he was taken away at GUNPOINT to the sets of Deewana; SRK cried when film stock got over on last day

By Fenil Seta -

February 26, 2024 - 11:25 AM IST

It’s rare for a film to have unanimous acclaim. Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994) is one such movie that has a following across generations and the fan club continues to grow with each passing year. It celebrated its 30th anniversary on February 25 and the celebrations got a boost with lead actor Shah Rukh Khan’s tweet, calling it a ‘sweetest film’. In this Bollywood Hungama special feature, we bring to you some lesser-known trivia about the film.

Director Samar Khan, who worked closely with Shah Rukh Khan, wrote in his book ‘SRK – 25 Years Of A Life’, “In Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Shah Rukh was almost living his own love story. There were parts that were inspired by his own real life.”

The film was made on a tight budget and the actors and the team had to constantly adjust accordingly. Shah Rukh had worked earlier with Kundan Shah on his TV shows and the friendship was so strong that there was no paperwork. The late director opened up on this aspect in one of the producers and how it led to problems.

Kundan Shah had to go to the Centaur Hotel, Juhu where Shah Rukh Khan was attending the mahurat of his other film Deewana (1992). He asked the superstar to officially sign the film. Shah Rukh agreed but there was a problem: Kundan wasn’t carrying any document. As per an article in Delhi Times, “Shah Rukh Khan pulled out a blank paper, kneeled on the ﬂoor and put his signature at the bottom right corner of that blank paper, and Kundan Shah gave him Rs. 5,000 as the signing amount.” Reportedly, he was paid Rs. 25,000 as his acting fees.

The Delhi Times article also stated that 90% of the film was shot in 1992 and the remaining 10% in 1994 due to non-availability of Shah Rukh Khan’s dates. Noted journalist Anupama Chopra in her book ‘King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema’, however, mentioned that the shoot was also stalled due to financial troubles. She further said that only five days of shoot was left when the film faced a money crisis.

The book revealed that on the last day of the shoot at Kamalistan Studio, the unit ran out of film stock. Producer Vikram Mehrotra, who was plagued by delay and financial problems, refused to buy any more stock. This is when SRK decided to run to every unit shooting at the studio and asked for spare film. But since it was past midnight, most shoots had wrapped up. Anupama Chopra wrote, “When he couldn’t any (film stock), Shah Rukh Khan sat down and cried.”

Nevertheless, the date issue also was another challenge faced by the unit. Kundan Shah said in one interview, “Because of SRK’s date issues, he was once whisked away at gunpoint from the sets of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa to that of Deewana. It was quite funny.”

The chaos and hardships seem worth it as Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa continues to find love even after three decades and will continue to do so for many more years to come.

Besides Shah Rukh Khan, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa also starred Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, Deepak Tijori, Ashutosh Gowariker, Aditya Lakhia, Aanjjan Srivastav, Naseeruddin Shah, late Ravi Baswani and others.