One of the first interviews given by Shah Rukh Khan was rejected by a film magazine because they didn’t think it was good enough for them.

Shah Rukh Khan’s interview was rejected by a film magazine at the start of his career.

Shah Rukh Khan has been in the movies for over 30 years now but even before he made his debut in Bollywood, Shah Rukh was determined that he was going to make it in the industry. In a recent interview, former journalist and writer Mushtaq Shiekh recalled an anecdote from the time when Shah Rukh’s interview was rejected by a popular film magazine because they didn’t consider him to be a star.

Talking to Cyrus Broacha, Mushtaq recalled that this was during the time when SRK had just come to Mumbai and was yet to make a mark in films. But, he was quite popular because of his TV stint in Fauji. Mushtaq was a young freelance journalist at the time and interviewed Shah Rukh. “I remember the funniest story here that when I take that interview to my editor, it’s not considered cool enough because he is not a film star,” he shared. Mushtaq shared that he had taken the interview to G magazine which focused on movie stars.

“He was huge on television, massive, but not in films,” he said and added that SRK was “brilliant” in that interview. “He was exactly as sparkling and as brilliant and as witty as he is today because that first interview had quotes like ‘I want to be number one, I am number one, I will be number one’. This kind of copy was rarely being spoken by any star at that time. He had a way of looking of at the film industry that nobody else had. He gave a rat’s a*s about anyone at that time,” he said.

Mushtaq said that he somehow managed to package that story with a bunch of other stories and gave it to another magazine but recalled that afterwards, when Shah Rukh actually became a star, he remembered Mushtaq. “After that, Shah Rukh becomes a big star. And then G magazine wants his interview,” he shared and mentioned that at that point, Shah Rukh “ends up saying that I will only speak to Mushtaq.”

Mushtaq eventually went on to collaborate with Shah Rukh in many films. He was also the writer for his film Om Shanti Om.