Bhubaneswar: Year 1991: the owner of royal palace villa ‘Mannat’, Shah Rukh Khan, had no house of his own or eben a rented one own to take shelter. For the king Khan, the office of film director Aziz Mirza was his sweet home.
In a chance meeting, while shooting for Patthar Ke Phool (1991) on busy streets of Bandra in Mumbai. Vivek Vaswani met Shah Rukh Khan at a coffee shop and both became friends.
Vivek Vaswani learnt from his assistant Sanjay Gupta that Shahrukh Khan is a big star on television and has done serials like Fauji and Circus. Vivek Vaswani offered SRK a house to home in but there was no film on cards for years.
SRK’S STARS SHINE
It is around this time the makers of Sholay GP Sippy-Ramesh Sippy wanted Vivek Vaswani to start a movie titled Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. Vivek swiftly recommended Shah Rukh Khan’s name for the film. But the Sippys didn’t take him seriously.
However, Shah Rukh signed his first Dil Aashna Hain, then King Uncle (after he met Rakesh Roshan at a party).
Sippys production house suggested Vaswani to check out Vivek Mushran of Saudagar's 'ILU ILU' fame. Vivek heard the script and liked it, but the buzz is his mentor Subhash Ghai advised him to charge a big sum. Sippy didn’t agree and Vivek Muhsran lost the film.
Vaswani then went to Aamir Khan with the film. He loved the film but had no dates.
By then Shah Rukh Khan signed films like Deewana and Chamatkaar. With 4 films in SRK’s belt, the Sippy’s were hit by the contagion effect – when they saw everyone signing Shah Rukh Khan, they agreed to make him hero of their film. The shooting started in September of 1991. And the movie was released on Juhi Chawla's 25th birthday on November 13, 1992.
The romantic comedy-drama film directed by Aziz Mirza starring Shah Rukh Khan, Amrita Singh, Juhi Chawla and Nana Patekar emerged as a commercial success. This film made SRK an overnight star.
It became the first Indian film to be released in theaters in Canada. The country has stopped showing Indian movies in the theatres since 1982. Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman was one of the first few films to finally return to the Canadian silver screens after a decade.
The film’s music were also chartbusters then, especially the songs like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.. and Loveria Hua….
The song Loveria hua was so popular than that a few years later Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd had decided to make a film titled "Loveria" Starring Saif Ali Khan,Karisma Kapoor in 1998, though the film was shelved later.
MOVIE TRIVIA
- Anil Kapoor was offered Nana Patekar's role
- When Vivek Vaswani told Juhi Chawla's mother he has signed a new boy opposite her for an Aziz Mirza film.
- She told him that currently Juhi is working with top stars like Rishi Kapoor and Aamir Khan.
- She suggested signing Aamir Khan.
- But when Viivek Vaswani told G.P Sippy producer of Sholay (1975) has signed the film she was fine.
- Vijayta Pandit sang all the songs in the film. They were later dubbed with another singer
- Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman released on Nov 13, 1992, 32 years ago.
