When Shah Rukh Khan CONFRONTED Gulshan Grover after he called his villainous act in Baazigar a “SHORTCUT to grab popularity”

Shah Rukh Khan started his Bollywood journey with the movie Deewana in 1992. Just a year later, his career took a big leap with the release of Baazigar in 1993. In this thriller, SRK played an anti-hero, which was not common at that time. Many actors had refused to take on this role because they thought it was too unusual. But Shah Rukh decided to accept the challenge, and this decision changed things for him. However, this choice also created some awkward situations in the industry.

Mayank Shekhar, in his Mid-Day column, shared one such incident.

 He had a chat with Gulshan Grover, who is known as the Bad Man due to his villain roles. Gulshan is now getting attention again because of his role in the Amazon Prime Video series Matka King, where he plays a negative character. While praising his performance in the series, Mayank revealed that Gulshan once told him about an event from the early 90s.

At the time, Gulshan was shooting an action scene with stunt director Veeru Devgan at Filmistan Studio.

 Suddenly, Shah Rukh Khan arrived and ran straight towards him. Gulshan said that both of them got into a strong argument. The people around them were worried they might get into a fight, but nothing like that happened.

According to the column, SRK was upset with Gulshan because the actor had criticized him for taking on the villain role in Baazigar.

 Gulshan called it a "shortcut to gain popularity." After reading the interview, SRK went to talk to Gulshan and explained that he was in Bollywood as a hero for the long term. He said he chose the villain role as a "personal challenge." Gulshan accepted this explanation.

Interestingly, just a month after Baazigar was released, SRK played another villain in the movie Darr (1993).

 He also played a negative role in Anjaam (1994). But he also won over audiences with his romantic role in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994). After delivering a powerful romantic performance in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), there was no looking back for the superstar.

Coming back to Gulshan Grover, Mayank Shekhar mentioned that Gulshan had concerns about heroes playing villains, a role he was known for.

 Gulshan recalled that some actors, who were not working much but still had a fan base from older generations, would take on villain roles. These characters did bad things, but the actors usually avoided getting hurt or humiliated. Gulshan didn't have such worries, but the heroes would not want that and, according to Gulshan, they ended up changing the film's ending to make it acceptable.