SRK Worked For 36 Hours On Circus, Says Co-Star: 'Not A Single Wrinkle Appeared On His Face'
Shah Rukh Khan started on TV with Fauji and Circus, before going on to becoming a huge movie star.
Shah Rukh Khan, before becoming one of Bollywood's biggest stars, began his career on television with popular shows like Fauji, Dil Dariya, Doosra Keval, Circus, and Idiot. In Circus, directed by Aziz Mirza and Kundan Shah, he worked alongside future stars like Ashutosh Gowariker, Makrand Deshpande, Renuka Shahane, and Sameer Khakhar. Reflecting on those early days, Renuka Shahane recently shared a memory of Shah Rukh giving her a valuable piece of advice, which Ashutosh Gowariker later helped her apply while they were working together on the show.
In a chat with Filmfare, Renuka Shahane talked about her time on the show Circus. She said she was scared of heights, just like her character Maria, which made some scenes hard to do. She recalled, 'My character, Maria, had a fear of heights, and so did I in real life. Hence, I was really scared while doing some of my scenes, particularly the ones featuring me getting on the trapeze. We all belong to the same age group, and, at that time, Shah Rukh wasn't a film star. He was already a television star, though. So, after pack-up, we all used to discuss things."
She went on to add, 'I was really scared, especially because I had to shoot with Kundan. Then, Shah Rukh came up to me and said, 'Listen, you are an actor. If the director tells you this is a well and asks you to jump, you jump. You shouldn't think about your fear of heights and all.' He actually works like that. His attitude toward work is like that. I've seen him work for 36 hours straight. We had two units on Circus — one managed by Kundan and the other by Aziz — and SRK was in practically every frame of the show. So, I have seen him shooting for 36 hours at a stretch. Yet, not a single wrinkle appeared on his face. He never complained about anything either."
Renuka Shahane also shared a memory of Ashutosh Gowariker jokingly telling her that if a director asks her to jump, she should reply, 'First, you jump and show me." But the professionalism SRK was talking about was, don't overthink or question these things. It's the director's vision, and as an actor, you have to fulfill it. His words got me thinking. One can be mollycoddling of oneself, and we need to stretch ourselves."
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