Zayed Khan Reveals SRK Once Asked Him ‘Can You Act?’ Before Casting Him in Main Hoon Na

Over 20 years after Main Hoon Na (2004) glowed on the silver screen, Zayed Khan has given his first sightings about how he got the role of Lucky. Maintaining that he was never meant to be in Main Hoon Na in the first place, Zayed, 45 now, also recalled in a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan during Brut India how the journey to the movie happened. “Yaar, I think people know this story,” he began, “but I was really lucky because the role was first given to Hrithik, and nothing happened there. Then the role was offered to Sohail Khan, but it didn’t stick there either. Then the role was offered to Abhishek (Bachchan), it didn’t stick there either. I don’t know what happened.”

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The next thing that took place would have been a movie scene in Bollywood. Zayed had wanted choreographer-director Farah Khan to direct another song in another film; she called up the latter to offer her the job. “I wanted her to choreograph Mohabbat Hai Mirchi, then she tells me ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m here.’ Then she’s like ‘Meet me in my office right now,’” he recounted.

But when he arrived, nothing felt familiar. “I’m already on Cloud 9, I got dressed and went, and I walked into Shah Rukh’s office. And I’m looking around and thinking that this does not look like Farah’s office because there are only Shah Rukh’s pics everywhere, and I’m thinking what is Shah Rukh’s connection to Mohabbat Hai Mirchi.”

Even after this adjustment which left him still in the opinion that this was a meeting regarding the song, he approached Farah with the most prolific question of them all which was will we or not do it? “So I said, ‘Farah sun, are we doing the song?’ and she said, ‘Just shut up — Shah Rukh is coming and he wants to talk to you.’”

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The next thing that followed was a surreal experience to the actor. “I’ve been a big fan of Shah Rukh. When we were in boarding school, we used to stand in line at Natraj Cinema, Suicide Alley meh, to see his films,” he said with a nostalgic laugh. “Shah Rukh was so sweet. He comes with his aura and his charm. He said, ‘Zayed, you don’t listen to how she says, but we are making a film and we are considering you as the second lead of the film.’ So my heart stopped for a minute and I was like, what the hell is happening out here.”

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Now it's the most Bollywood question of them all: “He asked me, ‘Just one question… can you act?’ And then I looked at him and said, ‘I was born to act’. I think he was very amused by my answer.”

The truth moment was when Farah entered her car. With bated breath Zayed was awaiting a decision and simply said, “Send me your measurements, you’re going to be in my film.” Zayed summed it up perfectly: “It was a pretty filmy moment.”

Main Hoon Na, which was released in 2004, was the directorial debut of Farah Khan and it opened to a cast of characters with Shah Rukh playing a military officer whose job is a secret mission and a disguised identity. Zayed Khan who played the role of Lucky, the rebellious half-brother of Ram and college Casanova was opposite Amrita Rao as Sanjana and Sushmita Sen as Chandni Chopra the teacher who stole the heart of Ram and the audience.

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