Shah Rukh Khan’s first evil role as a stalker in Yash Chopra’s Darr (1993) The noteworthy because to his “I love you K-K-K-Kiran” speech.
Juhi Chawla is a keen observer of Shah Rukh Khan, having shared the screen with him in over a dozen films. Speaking at a Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry event in the state, she revealed how Shah Rukh Khan came up with the memorable sentence ‘I love you K.K.K.Kiran‘ from their 1993 smash romantic movie Darr.
“Maine yeh notice nahin kiya tha (I hadn’t seen it), but Shah Rukh was alert. Shah Rukh previously said that he picked up K-K-K-Kiran from director Yash Chopra, who used to stammer slightly. He said, ‘I am going to utilise it in the film’ and wahan se unhone woh shuru kiya (he started from there), and thank God for that,” Juhi Chawla remarked.
The late Yash Chopra directed Darr, which was produced under his Yash Raj Films label. Shah Rukh Khan played a relentless stalker who goes to obsessive, violent lengths to get close to Kiran (Juhi), a lady he adores and who is married to Sunny Deol’s character. Darr portrayed Shah Rukh as a formidable antihero.
In the Netflix India docuseries The Romantics, which premiered last year, Shah Rukh Khan described how he came up with the stutter idea after discussing it with Yash Chopra’s son Aditya Chopra, who worked as an Assistant Director on the Darr set. “I had a classmate who stammered. And then we did some research, a BBC programme or something, and they talked about how people’s minds become conscious of one sound, and it’s like a strong current,” he explained.
“So you can’t say that word. I told Yashji that I wanted to employ this feature with the character. And then Adi (Aditya Chopra) recommended that since you’ve become conscious of a sound, we should make him aware of the woman he loves the most, her name. So I only mumble the word Kiran. “It was only for that one word because he is so aware of her,” Shah Rukh Khan explained.
