The team of Netflix film ‘Jaane Jaan’, starring Vijay Varma, Jaideep Ahlawat and director Sujoy Ghosh, were the guest speakers on Day 1 at India Today Mumbai Conclave 2023. The trio spoke at a session titled The Unlikely Heroes: How OTT Platforms are Championing Them.
Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh said he loved SRK films ‘Jawan’ and ‘Pathaan’. To this, Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat added that Shah Rukh Khan personally called them after watching ‘Jaane Jaan’ and mentioned that he liked the film too.
VIJAY, JAIDEEP SAY SRK WATCHED ‘JAANE JAAN’ AND CALLED THEM
Sujoy Ghosh: I loved ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’. I loved ‘Jawan’, ‘Pathaan’. I love any film which keeps me invested for two hours or three hours or whatever.
Vijay Varma: I enjoyed ‘Jawan’ as well. It was wild. It was so good and fun fact. Mr Shah Rukh Khan enjoyed ‘Jaane Jaan’ as well. He called us, he called me and he called Jaideep.
Jaideep Ahlaway: That was the moment. He called me and said ‘agar aap bohot zyada busy nahi hain, toh apse thodi si baat karni hain. Shah Rukh bol raha hoon.’ Maine unse kahan, ‘agar mujhe heart attack aaya toh uske zimmedaar aap honge!’
VIJAY, JAIDEEP PRAISE SHAH RUKH KHAN
Vijay: We are living in his phase like we are living in Shah Rukh’s shadow. Everything about this incredible man is so inspiring in so many ways. He set a benchmark right now which only he can cross. As a person, as an actor, as a personality, as a star, and I can count every opportunity, every time I’ve met him. It’s so significant, even it is a five-second meeting or a handshake, whatever it is. You remember your time with him. He’s one of those people, he touches your heart.
Jaideep: So many films. While we were growing up, ‘Baazigar’m “DDLJ’, they were huge hits, madness. But I’m fortunate enough working with him for a very small part in ‘Raaes’ and it just happened. Somebody else was cast for that role and something happened, and then on the 11th hour, I was finalised at 11.30 in the night and the call time was 7 in the morning. So I worked with him for four days and it was most amazing experience. I always say working with Shah Rukh Khan is you can’t describe it. You have to experience it, as simple as that. The way he treats you, the way he talks to you and make you so important, it’s mesmerising. He remembers every single thing.
The day he called me, he was talking about ‘Raaes’. The first day, the only time I got star-struck. I had the first scene and I was looking at him and I was slow because I became an audience during the scene and I’m watching Shah Rukh Khan playing a character. So I’m five seconds, seven seconds delayed of my reactions and then somehow the director said that everything is fine, but the scene is going down. You have to pace it up. And King Khan understood that and he knew that I was nervous, so he just settled everyone. For 15 minutes, he was talking about random things and those 15 minutes, for me, was like saans aaya! We are living in the love universe of Shah Rukh Khan.