Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has revealed fresh details about the relationship between Mumbai’s underworld and the Bollywood film industry during the 1990s.
In a recent interview, Gupta said that several actors and producers were forced to compromise under pressure and threats from the criminal underworld at the time. Shah Rukh Khan, however, was an exception.
According to Gupta, the actor remained firm despite various forms of pressure and threats from the underworld and refused to give in—a stance the filmmaker described as one of the clearest examples of Khan’s courage.
Shah Rukh Khan Was a ‘Soft Target’
Speaking about Bollywood’s dark chapter in an interview on Hussain Zaidi’s YouTube channel, Gupta said the entire film industry was effectively under the underworld’s watch during that period, with actors particularly vulnerable to intimidation.
But Shah Rukh Khan stood apart, he said. Even when approached with offers and demands from the underworld, the actor refused to submit to them.
Gupta recalled that Khan effectively challenged the people threatening him, making it clear that he could not be intimidated into doing what they wanted.
‘I’m a Pathan. Shoot Me.’
According to Gupta, Shah Rukh Khan told the underworld that he was a Pathan and could not be forced into submission through threats.
The filmmaker recalled Khan’s defiant message as: “I’m a Pathan. Shoot me.”
The remark, Gupta said, reflected Khan’s determination that even threats to his life would not force him to abandon his position or compromise his decisions.
