Once Hema Malini called Shah Rukh Khan ugly, Casted him in her film after Salman Khan, Aamir Khan turned her down.
Published: November 2, 2025 9:14 AM IST
Bollywood’s King Khan, aka Shah Rukh Khan, is celebrating his 60th birthday. For more than a decade, Shah Rukh Khan has contributed to the Indian cinema industry. Today, SRK is at a position where only a few people could reach. While SRK is hailed and loved as an actor today, did you know there was a time when yesteryear’s heroine Hema Malini called SRK ‘ugly’? Yes, you read that right! Scroll down to read more.
Hema Malini Called Shah Rukh Khan Ugly
Shah Rukh Khan began his career in 1992 with the film Deewana. However, in the next few years, SRK had to struggle to establish himself as an actor. It was then that Hema Malini offered the actor a role in the film Dil Aashna Hai. In a conversation with filmmaker Vivek Vaswani, he recalled SRK’s first meeting with Hema Malini.
Filmmaker Vivek Vaswani recently revealed in an interview how Hema Malini signed Shah Rukh Khan for the film Dil Aashna Hai. It was the same time when SRK was living with Vivek while looking for a rented flat in Mumbai.
The filmmaker said that he once received a call from Hema Malini, and it came out of the blue. He said, “That day I realized I was in the industry. Hema Malini called my house, and my father answered the phone. He introduced himself and asked, ‘Is that Vivek Vaswani speaking?’ My father asked, ‘Who is Hema Malini?’ He said, ‘Hema Malini, superstar.’ He came and woke me up, grabbed me by the collar, and said, ‘Hema Malini is on the phone.’”
Vivek further explained that Hema Malini asked about Shah Rukh Khan and wanted to discuss a project. She said, “That boy Shah Rukh Khan, is he still sleeping at your house?” I said, “Yes,” and she asked me to wake him up. I then picked up Shah Rukh Khan by the collar, and he went over to talk to her. She told him to come to her home at 5 p.m. and hung up.
Vivek and Shah Rukh went to Hema Malini’s house, and he admitted that even though he was very nervous, he tried his best to get Shah Rukh a big break. He said, “We arrived at her house, and there was someone reading a newspaper in front of us. We didn’t recognize him, but when he put the newspaper down, we realized it was Dharmendra.”
As per a News18 report, during the conversation, Hema called Shah Rukh Khan ‘very ugly.’ Later, when Vivek asked Hema why she wanted to cast Shah Rukh Khan in her film, she said that Salman and Aamir had turned her down. Vivek said, “I told her that Rakesh Roshan and Ramesh Sippy had signed him, and that was a lie because when I have to give people a career, I can lie like a king.”
Lastly, King Khan was cast in the film for a remuneration of Rs 50,000.
Released in 1992, Dil Aashna Hai featured SRK, Jeetendra, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh, Mithun Chakraborty, and Divya Bharti. The movie was directed by Hema Malini, and it turned out to be a huge flop.
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