Choreographer Ahmed Khan he directed his first film, ‘Lakeer: Forbidden Lines’, in 2004. Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty and John Abraham. But not many people know that this was not supposed to be his first film. His first work was to be done by Shah Rukh Khanand SRK is doing the same. Ahmed has now spoken about the story of the film and why it was never made.
Ahmed Khan on ‘Sabr’
In an interview with News18, he said, “At that time, before Lakeer was there, I wrote a film called Sabr. The film was supposed to focus on him in two roles. AR Rahman also agreed to compose the song. It was the story of a grandfather and his grandson – when he was born, his grandfather was no longer there but he knew everything about him as he heard from his mother’s stories when he was in the womb”.
Ahmed Khan remembers when Shah Rukh was set to launch two leads
Shah Rukh was supposed to play two roles in the film. That year, the superstar was also planning to install two choreographers as directors, Farah Khan and only Ahmed. “When I told Shah Rukh about the story, he said he wanted to do the film. I was in a hurry to make it. Shah Rukh was introducing two choreographers as directors under his production that year – Farah and me. At that time, it was called Dreamz Unlimited,” he recalls.
Ahmed Khan on why the film was delayed
The news struck him immediately. “Shah Rukh heard my script and loved it. It was a big film. Rahman had started working on his music. He had to have two more stars,” Ahmed shares. So what happened next? “His commitment was to Farah first. Based on my understanding, my film will happen only after Farah. I couldn’t jump the queue. But his film kept getting pushed. It was delayed by two years because Shah Rukh had other commitments to fulfill, and making a film takes a lot of time. I started to feel restless. I was ready to start my film. And then, finally, Main Hoon Na went down. It would have taken them a year or a year and a half to complete. I wouldn’t have waited that long,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed Khan on Shah Rukh’s words that touched his heart
Even though Shah Rukh asked Ahmed to work a little, he was not able to, and he went to work in Lakeer. “I remember talking to Shah Rukh and he said, ‘Don’t go anywhere. Your first film should be with me.’ He spoke to me like an elder brother and his words touched my heart,” says the director of Baaghi 2 and Welcome To The Jungle. This, however, did not affect their relationship, but Ahmed chose not to return to the matter. “I asked him if it’s okay if I do a second film with him and he said, ‘Tu hi ja raha hai.’ That’s when I left and made him a Laker. But this did not disturb our equation. The film was never made. This was just made for Shah Rukh. But I know it’s not too late,” he said.