Shah Rukh Khan, 2-Feet Shorter. Director Reveals Why He Made 'Khan Saab' A Dwarf

New Delhi: Shah Rukh Khan's next director Aanand L Rai has explained the rationale behind why he made the character the superstar is playing in his untitled film a dwarf. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Mr Rai revealed that much as he loved superhero films and watching homegrown ones like Krrish, he set his sights, quite literally, lower. "I loved seeing Hrithik (Roshan) fly off a 250-feet building, it was brilliantly done, but deep down I felt this wasn't us. Apart from our mythological demigods, Indians aren't ready for superheroes, kadd mein hum abhi bahut chhote hain. That's what made me want to live life from the perspective of a dwarf," Mr Rai told Mumbai Mirror.

Hearing a six-foot actor speak the words "I love you" is very different from someone two-feet shorter saying it, Mr Rai explained. And to play a little person, he needed someone of immense stature, metaphorically speaking. "I wanted to cut the all-important two feet from a star as big and confident as Khan saab, then tell a love story. Being an intelligent man, he knew what I was talking about," Aanand L Rai told Mumbai Mirror.

Advanced editing technology will be shortening Shah Rukh Khan - who is about 5 feet 7 inches - in the film. "It is a movie on a vertically challenged special person. I enjoyed while shooting for the film. I think technically these kind of films should be made in India. I feel proud that my team is doing that," the actor told news agency IANS some months ago.

He won't be the first actor to play a little person in Indian cinema - Kamal Haasan has been there already in 1989's Apoorva Sagodharargal, released in a Hindi dub as Appu Raja.

SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment, which is co-producing Aanand L Rai's film, tweeted this picture earlier this year:
 

The Dwarf & his Director! @iamsrk @aanandlrai #RaeesSuccessParty pic.twitter.com/h0K2XbwIow

— Red Chillies Ent (@RedChilliesEnt) January 30, 2017

The film has neither a title nor a tentative release date yet. Very few details have been made available but the cast is believed to include actors Deepak Dobriyal and Mohd Zeeshan Ayub, both seen in Mr Rai's Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Salman Khan will make a special appearance, playing himself.

(With IANS inputs)