Shah Rukh Khan's career in the film industry is quite interesting. The actor started his acting journey by doing TV shows, then supporting roles, villainous characters, and eventually playing the main lead in movies. Every performance he gave is etched in the minds of cinephiles. The actor is known as the King of Romance, even though he has always been drawn to the action genre. Hence, when he was offered a romantic drama, the superstar kept rejecting it.
During the 90s, a big production house offered a romantic movie to Shah Rukh Khan. However, SRK rejected it four times until he eventually said yes. The movie went on to become a huge blockbuster success with Rs 102 crore at the box office. The movie Khan kept rejecting was Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, aka DDLJ. He played the iconic Raj Malhotra with Kajol, who played Simran in the film.
Directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by Yash Raj Films, the makers wanted to cast Tom Cruise for the film. However, due to budget restrictions, they approached Saif Ali Khan and then Shah Rukh Khan was cast. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995 and also won a National Award. SRK kept rejecting DDLJ as he thought the role was meant for a teenager and he was not keen on becoming a romantic hero. But Aditya insisted that he take up the film and things eventually fell into place.
It is also because of DDLJ that SRK and Kajol became one of the most loved romantic couples on screen. The movie impacted the audience so much that it is still played every day at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir. DDLJ is the longest-running movie in theatres of Indian cinema.
