When Shah Rukh Khan was called ‘very ugly’ by a director

Shah Rukh Khan is the epitome of romance for any Indian, both on and off the screen. His charm and charisma often transcend his roles on screen. His offscreen persona has also won hearts. But did you know that a notable director once called SRK ‘very ugly’? Yes, that’s right!

Earlier this year, Shah Rukh was honoured with the Pardo alla Carriera Ascona-Locarno Tourism award for his contribution to cinema at the Locarno Film Festival 2024. During an interaction with Giona A. Nazzaro, SRK recalled being called ugly by a filmmaker during his salad days in cinema.

According to King Khan, the director said that the ‘most attractive part’ of Shah Rukh Khan is that he is ‘very ugly’. “Because all these heroes look really Swiss chocolate-like. I didn’t look like Swiss chocolate. So I said, okay if I’m ugly, I’ll do bad guy roles. One of the bad guys roles I did was in Switzerland. It was a film called Darr. I think being in Switzerland and drinking your milk, I became chocolatey,” SRK recalled.

Shah Rukh recounted that when he was completing ‘Darr’, Yash Chopra told him that he wanted to cast the actor in a love story. “You don’t look like such a bad guy,” Yash Chopra said, and they made ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, which went on to gain a cult status in pop culture.


Meanwhile, on the work front, Shah Rukh Khan’s recent outing was ‘Dunki’. The film directed by Rajkumar Hirani was released in 2023.