When Shah Rukh Khan told gangster Abu Salem 'I don’t tell you who to shoot so don’t tell me which film to do'

King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, for more than 25 years, has stayed in the hearts of his fans. On his 55th birthday, here's a look at a time in Shah Rukh's career when he had to deal with threatening calls from gangsters Abu Salem and Chota Shakeel, among others. 

For the uninformed, in Anupama Chopra's book The King of Bollywood, she details how Shah Rukh had once reportedly told Abu Salem, who wanted the actor to work in a film by a producer, close to the gangster, "I don’t tell you who to shoot so don’t tell me which film to do."

The book details that Shah Rukh started to receive phone calls when he was shooting for one of his superhit films Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal hai with Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Aug 15, 2020 at 6:41am PDT

Reports state that the first call that the actor received from Salem, he asked, "Who’s this?" The question prompted a spate of choice Hindi curses. Shah Rukh chose to keep it polite while conversing in English, situating himself and his caller in different worlds from the beginning. The gangster wanted him to work in a film being made by a friend, which the actor refused to do but while explaining himself. 

After this incident, Shah Rukh Khan was also given security by the Mumbai Police. In the book, the actor described this time in his life as "depressing and scary". 

On the work front, as of now, Shah Rukh was last seen in 'Zero' which was released in 2018. The actor worked with director Aanand L Rai for the science-romantic film which featured Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma as the female leads. It has been two years and the actor has not yet announced his next film. He has mainly contributed to producing movies and web shows.