Despite 50 days having passed since its release, Atlee Kumar’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan is continuing to attract audiences to cinema halls, a phenomenon that not many Indian films have witnessed in recent years. By minting Rs 1,148 crore worldwide, including a domestic gross of Rs 759 crore, Jawan currently stands as one the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
Though the film boasted an impressive cast, including Bollywood’s Baadshah himself, it was Deepika Padukone who (un) surprisingly stole the show in the end. Her portrayal of Aishwarya, the wife of Vikram Rathore and mother of Azad, both roles played by SRK, garnered significant acclaim. Director Atlee recently opened up about his approach in casting Deepika for the role, and her unexpected reaction when he went to meet her to narrate the script.
Mentioning that his initial discussion about bringing Deepika on board the project began with SRK’s manager Pooja Dadlani, Atlee told Filmfare that Pooja recommended reaching out to Deepika through Shah Rukh Khan. However, Atlee said, by the time they eventually approached SRK, he had already contacted Deepika.
“Shah Rukh sir said, ‘I’ve already spoken to her; she’s interested. She will do it, let her get free. Then we’ll go and narrate; if she feels merit, she will definitely do it.’ And I was also happy about it. So then we flew to Hyderabad; she was shooting for Kalki 2898 AD. We went to her hotel and spoke for two to three hours with her,” Atlee added.
