Shah Rukh Khan Agreed To Tubelight Cameo Almost Before Salman Khan Could Ask

New Delhi: Actor Shah Rukh Khan's cameo in friend and colleague Salman Khan's new film Tubelight was hailed with delight by fans when it was first announced some months ago. It was, to those who would like to see a Karan-Arjun reunion, the next best thing to an actual film together. Now, just days before the film releases, Salman reveals that SRK wasn't hard to persuade at all - in fact, he said yes almost before Salman even asked. "When Kabir (director Kabir Khan) narrated the subject to me, he said, 'For this role we should get Shah Rukh'. So, when I called him and I told him that there is a small role in Tubelight which I would like you to do it, before completing my sentence, Shah Rukh said, 'I will do it'. That's how he made his entry into the movie," Salman Khan said in Mumbai on Monday, reports news agency IANS.
 
Before the cameo was officially confirmed, Shah Rukh Khan spent an interesting few days dodging questions from the press. In January, he was spotted on the sets of Tubelight in Mumbai's Film City. Asked by news agency PTI to comment, he said, in typically smooth SRK style, "Even I have heard about the news, but you should ask the producers, they will give you the right answer." Things were complicated by trade analyst Komal Nahta posting and then deleting a tweet that read: "Confirmed news, guys. Absolutely great news. Shah Rukh Khan will play an important cameo in... hold your breath... Salman Khan's Tubelight."

Happily for fans, the cameo was not just a rumour - unlike a similar special appearance that SRK was reported to have been making in Baahubali 2 and which turned out to be untrue - and Shah Rukh Khan will be seen in Tubelight. It is the first time that he and Salman will be in a film together after 2002's Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam.

Details of SRK's role haven't been revealed - something's gotta be a surprise, come on - but director Kabir Khan did tell Indian Express in May, "It was a role screaming for a superstar cameo otherwise I wouldn't have. I find it gimmicky. But when you will watch the film, you will realise the role needed a superstar. We went to him with the role and he was kind enough to agree. It is a brilliant cameo but I can't say much about it because it will take away the joy of seeing it." Can't wait.

The events of Tubelight take place in the 1962 war with China. Salman Khan plays Laxman, who vows to find and bring back his brother Bharat, a soldier played by the actor's real life brother Sohail Khan. The film, which releases this week to coincide with Eid as is Salman's wont, also stars Chinese actress Zhu Zhu and child actor Matin Rey Tangu.

(With IANS inputs)