Irritated SRK stormed off Chak De sets
Shah Rukh Khan walked off a Chak De India shoot irritated with director Shimit Amit's endless pleas for retakes.
"The thing that annoyed everyone was Shimit's tendency to shoot the same scene over and over and over and over again even when everyone present there could see that it was fine," said our source on the sets. "And this got to everybody including Shah Rukh."
"I remember this scene we were shooting at Sahar Airport. The scene had SRK picking up a suitcase and loading it in the bus – so every time we had to re-shoot Shah Rukh would offload the bags and he would do it himself because he didn't want anyone to wait on him," the source said, adding that the tension was noticeably building up as retakes were ordered. "Now Shimit made those guys do that scene again and again. As result Shah Rukh got very irritated and at one point after doing one scene he just walked off and went home. SRK just stormed off!"
Shimit was generally seen by the crew as someone difficult to get along with, the source said. "Shah Rukh said he was 'waiting for the shoot to get over and didn't want any more of this.' He said it in India, in Australia… on more than one occasion he made it quite clear that that he couldn't wait to get it over and done with it," said the source, adding that SRK did not wait till the end. "The final shots were being done in Delhi and Shah Rukh didn't even wait for the wrap-up. He just finished his last shot and left. He said bye to all of us nicely. But he also told us 'I'm so glad I'm finally done with it and there is no more Chak De – thank God for that!' and he left."
While SRK made his irritation visible, Shimit would be obsequious. "Shimit would basically be grovelling at his feet 'Sir… we want one more shot!' he would say," said the source.
Things came to a head when SRK took them to a special premiere of Don and Shimit slept through it. "SRK took us to a theatre in Sydney and neither the director of photography nor Shimit could stay up. In fact Shimit was physically holding his eyes open," the source said, "obviously SRK felt bad but he didn't say anything."
Meanwhile the constant retakes were taking their toll on the crew and their weariness was showing. "After we would up in Delhi, Shimit gathered us and said 'thank you. My movie will hopefully be a success. And I'm sorry for shooting the same scene again and again. But this is the first sports movie in India and I want it to be the best and most remembered,'" said the source, adding, "and that's all he said."
SRK was more involved with the shoot and helped the girls, the source said, "He would give them acting tips: how to execute the dead man's fall, how to slap, how to hit while Shimit would not speak to them."
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