Juhi Chawla recalled how Shah Rukh Khan supported her after she lost her mother during the shoot of Duplicate in Prague. The actor’s mother died in an accident in the city.
Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan were working together on Duplicate at the time.
Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla have shared a warm friendship for many years and have been with each other through many ups and downs. When Juhi lost her mother, it was Shah Rukh who supported her and in an earlier interview, Juhi acknowledged this and said that this was a “horrific” period of life but Shah Rukh made sure that Juhi was never left alone, and he would always try to cheer her up.
In a chat with Rajeev Masand, Juhi recalled that apart from her husband Jay Mehta, it was Shah Rukh who really stuck by her during this tragic phase. Juhi’s mother passed away in Prague when she and Shah Rukh were shooting there for Duplicate. “Shah Rukh was with me when we were there. And I remember just being totally devastated. And to try and forget about it, I would just jump into work so that… And Shah Rukh would try and make us all laugh, like he always does, he does it to everybody and he would just make sure that I was around and he’d keep it all happy and stuff and that’s how I got by,” she shared.
In another interview, Juhi had shared that Shah Rukh knew the pain of a parent’s death. She had shared with Hindustan Times, “He was the person who consoled me, as he had seen his parents pass away before that and knew the pain of losing a parent. So, he was trying to make me laugh and forget things.” Juhi said that after going through a mourning period, she resumed work and her next two films were with Shah Rukh, Duplicate and Yes Boss. “I would look forward to the day because I knew I’d see him [SRK] there and somehow he’ll be fun and I’ll forget for that while what has happened and be okay with it as a bad dream. So in a way, he was special because he could just help me through that very difficult time of my life,” she said.
In the same interview, Juhi shared that the incident happened just one day after they landed in Prague. “We had reached Prague and it was Karan’s [Johar] birthday the next day, so my mother and I bought a gift for him. Next morning, before I went for the shoot, she left for a walk and never came back. It was very traumatic because just a day before we had reached there and three days later, after she met with an accident, we were bringing her back in a coffin. It was devastating for me,” she recalled.
