When Shah Rukh Khan said, 'I will pull it off' after industry had doubts over him playing both the hero and the villain in Baazigar

When Shah Rukh Khan said, 'I will pull it off' after industry had doubts over him playing both the hero and the villain in Baazigar

In the annals of Bollywood history, few films mark a more seismic shift than the 1993 thriller, Baazigar. Released just two years into Shah Rukh Khan's Hindi film career, the Abbas-Mustan directorial didn't just become a box-office success; it became the cornerstone of a superstar's legacy. Yet, as the film's writer Javed Siddiqui recently revealed, before its release, the project was riddled with skepticism, with one major exception: Shah Rukh Khan himself.

The film's daring narrative—revolving around the vengeful, morally ambiguous protagonist Ajay Sharma—was an unprecedented risk in the early 90s, an era when heroes were traditionally virtuous and infallible. Siddiqui recalled the immense pressure and doubts surrounding their choice of protagonist in a conversation with Bollywood Hungama.

“When the project started, a lot of people said that you have made a negative character into a hero or you are making a hero into a villain. They also pointed out that he commits five murders in the film. Most people were shocked and felt the audience wouldn’t accept such a protagonist.”

The widespread fear was that Indian audiences would reject a lead character who murdered his own girlfriend—a role that established Shilpa Shetty and became a massive turning point for Kajol. The plot’s dark core was simply too unconventional for the time.

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Amidst the industry's collective apprehension, the only voice of unwavering conviction belonged to the young actor poised to portray the complex anti-hero.

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“But only one person had confidence in the film, and he was Shah Rukh,” Siddiqui recalled, adding, “He said, ‘I will pull it off.’ He has something different in him. He is also very hardworking when it comes to preparing for his role.”
Shah Rukh Khan’s belief was not misplaced. His nuanced portrayal of Ajay Sharma, blending menacing intensity with a vulnerable charm, captivated the audience. The film went on to become the fourth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 1993, earning its status as a cult classic and establishing the actor as a risk-taker unafraid to play a character with shades of grey.

Siddiqui’s connection with the star pre-dates the film’s phenomenon. He shared an anecdote of a time when the now-superstar was simply a struggling newcomer: “I had developed a bond with him before Baazigar. My partner Robin Bhatt and I used to write movies together and had a permanent room in a hotel in Khar. Shah Rukh often visited us because, at that time, he wasn’t so busy.”

Baazigar ultimately proved that a compelling performance and a strong narrative could overcome conventional wisdom. It was Shah Rukh Khan's confidence in his ability to "pull it off" that turned a deeply skeptical gamble into a career-defining triumph, changing the template for the Bollywood hero forever.