‘Why would I ask Shah Rukh Khan for money?’ Man who owned ‘Dunki’ title recalls receiving SRK’s request, visiting his house for dinner | Bollywood News
Anybody who has met Shah Rukh Khan only has good things to share about the actor, his grace and kindness. Actor-filmmaker Akashdeep Sabir has shared several such moments with him, and most recently, they interacted when SRK reached out to him to secure the title of his film Dunki. During the pandemic, Akashdeep discovered that illegal immigrants often travel across harsh terrains to enter America. After hearing many such stories, Akashdeep hired a writer, who scripted four seasons of a television show about the infamous ‘Donkey Route’. While discussing the show’s title, Akash had a couple of options, which included ‘The Donkey Route’, ‘The Road to Death’ and ‘Dunki’. Around this time, director Rajkumar Hirani began putting together a film set against the same backdrop. It was set to star Shah Rukh, and they both agreed on the title ‘Dunki’.
When Shah Rukh Khan learnt about this, he quickly approached Akash, who claimed to have been present when SRK first showed up in Mumbai to become an actor. Recalling the incident, Akashdeep told Lehren Retro, “Rajkumar Hirani thought on the same lines. Then, Shah Rukh said, ‘What is the film’s title?’ Then he said, ‘Dunki’. Shah Rukh asked Rajkumar to apply for a copyright, assuming nobody would have claimed this title. Then Rajkumar said, ‘No, Akash has it’. As soon as Shah Rukh heard my name, he said, ‘Don’t worry about him, I’ll speak with him.’”
He added, “I was in my editing room, working on something. I received a call from an unknown number. The person on the other side said, ‘Mote, Shah Rukh bol rahu hu’. I thought someone is playing a prank on me. I had done three world tours with Shah Rukh. I was there with Vivek Vaswani when he came to Bombay for the first time. I have known him for a long time, but in between we lost touch.”
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Then Shah Rukh called him for the second time, and this time, Akashdeep realised it wasn’t a prank at all. “He called me for the second time. He was polite as always, he told me, ‘Hey, I think I called you at a wrong time. This is my number, please save it. I am not on WhatsApp, but on SMS. Whenever you are free, let me know, I will give you a call.’ As soon as I heard that, I was like, ‘Hey no, I am so sorry, I thought someone is playing prank with me.’ He then asked, ‘Are you still like me? Do you still like to sleep at 5 in the morning?’ I was like, ‘Yes’. He then invited me for dinner. He then asked me about my family. In the second meeting, he brought up the Dunki title talk. He then requested me to give him the title Dunki. I said, ‘Sure, take it.’”
Shah Rukh Khan then set up a meeting with Akash, Rajkumar Hirani, and others associated with the film. In these meetings, they shared each other’s scripts to see there is no similarities or conflict.
“Then his office called me and asked for the money, I was like, ‘Take the title, I was not going to use it anyway. Why will I take money from Shah Rukh Khan?’” said Akashdeep. Speaking about Shah Rukh Khan, Akashdeep shared, “Till today, he is a gentleman, intelligent to the core. Such a brilliant person. He deserves every bit of success.” Dunki, also starring Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal, released in December 2023.
