More than two decades since Main Hoon Na (2004) lit up the silver screen, Zayed Khan has finally peeled back the curtain on how he landed the role of Lucky. In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan for Brut India, Zayed, now 45, shared how he was never supposed to be in Main Hoon Na in the first place. “Yaar, I think people know this story,” he began, “but I was really lucky because the role was first given to Hrithik, and nothing happened there. Then the role was offered to Sohail Khan, but it didn’t stick there either. Then the role was offered to Abhishek (Bachchan), it didn’t stick there either. I don’t know what happened.”
What happened next could’ve been a scene straight out of a Bollywood film. Zayed, hoping to have choreographer-turned-director Farah Khan helm a song for another project, gave her a call. “I wanted her to choreograph Mohabbat Hai Mirchi, then she tells me ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m here.’ Then she’s like ‘Meet me in my office right now,’” he recounted.
But when he arrived, nothing looked familiar. “I’m already on Cloud 9, I got dressed and went, and I walked into Shah Rukh’s office. And I’m looking around and thinking that this does not look like Farah’s office because there are only Shah Rukh’s pics everywhere, and I’m thinking what is Shah Rukh’s connection to Mohabbat Hai Mirchi.”
Still believing this meeting was about the song, he confronted Farah with the obvious question: are we doing this or not? “So I said, ‘Farah sun, are we doing the song?’ and she said, ‘Just shut up — Shah Rukh is coming and he wants to talk to you.’”
What followed was a surreal moment for the actor. “I’ve been a big fan of Shah Rukh. When we were in boarding school, we used to stand in line at Natraj Cinema, Suicide Alley meh, to see his films,” he said with a nostalgic laugh. “Shah Rukh was so sweet. He comes with his aura and his charm. He said, ‘Zayed, you don’t listen to how she says, but we are making a film and we are considering you as the second lead of the film.’ So my heart stopped for a minute and I was like, what the hell is happening out here.”
And then came the most Bollywood question of them all: “He asked me, ‘Just one question… can you act?’ And then I looked at him and said, ‘I was born to act’. I think he was very amused by my answer.”
The moment of truth came when Farah got into her car. Zayed, holding his breath, waited for a verdict. She rolled down the window and simply said, “Send me your measurements, you’re going to be in my film.” Zayed summed it up perfectly: “It was a pretty filmy moment.”
About Main Hoon Na
Released in 2004, Main Hoon Na marked the directorial debut of Farah Khan and featured an ensemble cast with Shah Rukh as Major Ram Prasad Sharma, a military officer with a secret mission and a hidden identity. Zayed Khan played Lucky, Ram’s rebellious half-brother and college heartthrob, opposite Amrita Rao’s Sanjana while Sushmita Sen portrayed Chandni Chopra, the chemistry teacher who stole both Ram’s and the audience’s hearts.
