When a silly suggestion about Dil Se angered Mani Ratnam: ‘How can Shah Rukh Khan hug Manisha Koirala and imagine Malaika Arora?’
Dil Se remains Shah Rukh Khan’s first and only film with director Mani Ratnam, and while the film is considered a cult classic today, producers at the time were scared that its tragic ending might not sit well with the audience. Dil Se’s biggest highlight at the time was its dance number ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ and since it appeared in the first half-hour of the film, producers and dributors were apprehensive that the audience might leave the theatre after watching the song, there affecting the snack sales of the cinemas. So, they came up with the idea of playing the song at the end of the movie as well.
Director Ram Gopal Varma, who was one of the producers of the film, shared with Bollywood Hungama that co-producer Bharat Shah suggested that after SRK and Manisha Koirala die in each other’s arms, they could play ‘Chaiyaa Chaiyaa’ again, but this suggestion made Mani Ratnam furious. RGV recalled that immediate feedback about the film was “very negative.”
“The exhibitors felt that killing Shah Rukh Khan was a make. They told us that due to the tragic ending, the viewers are giving the film thumbs down. We were all panicking,” he said.
The director continued, “Bharat Shah told me that ‘Bahut gadbad ho gaya hai (We have made a huge make). There’s one way of saving the situation’. According to him, the moment Shah Rukh and Manisha Koirala hug each other, we’ll cut the part where the bomb goes off. And we’ll add the ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ song. He reasoned that it’s the most liked song of the film and the audience would get happy on seeing it twice.”
As RGV and Mani Ratnam were friends, he called the director to inform him about the situation but the update angered the filmmaker. He said, “Mani got very angry with the suggestion. He asked me a valid question, ‘How can Shah Rukh Khan hug Manisha Koirala and imagine Malaika Arora?’”
When Varma told Shah about Mani Ratnam’s concerns, he dismissed them saying, “Toh yeh sab pehle sochna chahiye tha na. Aur usko bolo ki audience itna nahi sochegi. Unko do baar gaana dekhne ko mila hai toh voh log khush ho jayenge. (You should have thought about this before. Tell him that the audience won’t think much. They will get to see the song twice and will be happy about it).”
These were the days when physical prints had to be shipped to theatres, and since the film was already in release, the editing had to be done local theatre owners and dributors who were handling the on-ground release of the film. RGV concluded, “I don’t know if the theatres went ahead and did it. But in those days, they used to do that a lot.”
‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ was a rage back in the day, and is still considered one of the biggest hits of Shah Rukh Khan, Malaika Arora and music director AR Rahman’s career.
