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Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai starrer Devdas was one of the biggest blockbusters when it was released in the year 2002. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial has remained special for many as people have applauded SRK for his great acting. Before King Khan, Salman Khan was keen on playing the titular role but it was SLB’s decision to cast the Zero actor. Although the actor didn’t play the lead he has played a small part in the film.
The epic romantic drama film is based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The film was even screened at the Cannes Film Festival but received mixed reviews. However, when the SRK starrer was theatrically released worldwide, the movie was considered a success.
As per SRK’s biography by Anupama Chopra, King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema, in the book, she has mentioned a scene from Devdas where Salman Khan was featured. In the scene, Aishwarya Rai’s character Paro steps on a thorn while SRK’s character is shown removing it.
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While the team was shooting for the sequence, Salman Khan was present on the sets of Devdas and the Bajrangi Bhaijaan star volunteered to perform the scene. The act shows Shah Rukh Khan helping Aishwarya Rai’s Paro remove the thorn but the hand which is shown in the final cut of the movie is Salman’s. The said scene was part of the song More Piya.
In the SRK’s biography, Anupama Chopra shared, “During the making (of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), she (Aishwarya) had fallen in love with her co-star, Salman Khan. For two years, Aishwarya and Salman had conducted a tempestuous affair in a fishbowl (there were rumours of parental disapproval, physical abuse, intimidation), and by the time Devdas was shot the relationship had disintegrated into an unpleasant, incoherent mess. Salman had become a real-life Devdas, simultaneously self-destructing and attempting to salvage his romance. He was as much a part of the Devdas shoot as the crew.”
Explaining the scene, Chopra wrote, “Salman Khan would spend nights lying intoxicated on the floor of Aishwarya’s trailer. One night, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai were doing a romantic scene that required Shah Rukh to extricate a thorn from her foot. Salman was on the set, and he volunteered to demonstrate how this should be done. SRK agreed and as Salman did the shot, Sanjay rolled the cameras. It was a poignant moment: a spent, tragic lover enacting his own life for the film. Aishwarya cried. It was the last time the two were captured on a film together.”
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