Cine Stuck: From Shah Rukh Khan's Gracious Lunch Offer In His Vanity Van To A Haughty Star Son Sitting With His Feet Up On The Table

On Cine Struck's introductory piece, Subhash K Jha takes you inside Shah Rukh Khan's vanity van and inside the palatial Mannat. There's also an episode on the haughty star son who refused to put his feet down from the table while conversing to a senior actress and chat show host.

7190 Reads |  

Cine Stuck: From Shah Rukh Khan's Gracious Lunch Offer In His Vanity Van To A Haughty Star Son Sitting With His Feet Up On The Table
When my friend Celina Jaitley turned a year older on November 24 I remembered fellow-Scorpion Shah Rukh Khan’s cute remark on Celina. We were sitting in Shah Rukh’s van in Film City. He was shooting for Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na. Sushmita Sen was in the adjoining van. She didn’t join us for lunch. But her sister came to Shah Rukh’s van with medicines for his injured shoulder. I didn’t have lunch with Shah Rukh, although he insisted. I was invited for lunch with Akshay and Twinkle. Shah Rukh kept teasing me with, ‘Come on, what will they feed  you? They will probably starve you,’ etc etc.

But a commitment is a commitment. So although I was famished I stoutly desisted. Shah Rukh chatted about everything on this earth with such effortless fluency. He is a rare example of a fast thinker whose words match the speed of his thoughts. During the conversation he spoke about Celina in connection with the physio-therapy that he was undergoing. Apparently Celina too was  undergoing physiotherapy in the same hospital. And Shah Rukh would bump into her.

“She is so petite in real life, a mere child, she fills  up the screen and looks much bigger than she  is in real life,” he said with such fondness. It showed the respect he has for women. Anyone who has seen him with his wife Gauri would vouch for his inherently chivalrous nature. I remember the  first time he had introduced me to his wife. We were sitting together in his spotless-white living room at Mannat. When  Gauri walked in Shah Rukh got up from his seat with me. Familiarity has definitely not bred  anything but beautiful children in this marriage.

Shah Rukh is the  kind of guy who opens doors for ladies and makes sure they are comfortable at a party. Some years ago Shah Rukh (by the way he doesn’t like  being addressed as  SRK) proclaimed that his name would appear  after his leading ladies’ names in the credit titles of all his films. Shah Rukh has stuck to that decision. When he makes up his mind, nothing changes it.

I can’t say everyone in  the industry  is  as  gallant in his conduct towards women as Shah Rukh Khan. To be  fair I’ve seen  really obnoxious  behavior in front of my eyes with one superstar hero misbehaving with a prominent leading lady to the extent  that it qualified  as certifiable sexual harassment.

Simi Garewal once  told me  about this star-son, the spoilt rich heir of a very  big star’s family who thinks he is a master -actor although no one wants to sign him, who had his feet up on the table when she walked in. He kept his feet where there were. He should try placing them on  the ground once in a while.

But the worst  attitude towards a woman that I’ve encountered in the  film industry was  demonstrated by  a hotshot producer,  coincidentally closely related to the above-mentioned star-kid, who made a very vulgar comment about a  female producer who was  going through hard times.

When I heard the producer who has   grownup daughters, talking the way he did  about a woman,I thought  to myself…what if every male in the entertainment  industry was as  chivalrous as Shah Rukh Khan? How then would we tell the difference between a  trueblue star and a pathetic  imposter?




Image source: SpotboyE archive
Advertisement