Not Kajol, Shah Rukh Khan helped Alia Bhatt to shoot Tum Kya Mile, here’s how

Karan Johar paid a tribute to filmmaker Yash Chopra by going to the snowy mountains of Kashmir for the song Tum Kya Mile from Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. He brought back the classic era of Bollywood which included lip syncing and chiffon sarees. Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh immersed themselves in this world known to pairs like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. And it was choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant who helped Karan bring it all to screen.

We already know several interesting stories from the song. One of them is it being Alia’s first thing that she shot after delivering daughter Raha. Now, all thanks to Vaibhavi, another interesting story has come to light. It is about Shah Rukh Khan’s connection to the making of Tum Kya Mile.

Vaibhavi on making Ranveer lip sync

Talking about the song, Vaibhavi told Hindustan Times, “Karan has also given a slight tribute to Aditya Chopra from Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko Toh Pyar Sajna (from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge), where Kajol and Shah Rukh realise they’ve parted ways but fallen in love. This is suspension of disbelief. Karan didn’t have a doubt whether it’d work or not. He was driven utterly by conviction.”

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But making Ranveer do this lip syncing was a challenge. She said, “The only challenge was to make Ranveer do this. He’s not done this lip-sync song, except for one with Priyanka Chopra in Gunday. Otherwise he’s never done a love song where he’s looking all dreamy, and looking at the heroine with dove eyes. I wanted to do an exercise of rehearsals with him.”

How Shah Rukh Khan helped Alia Bhatt for Tum Kya Mile

And contrary to what one might assume, instead of Kajol, who has been several times in Alia’s place in such songs, it was Shah Rukh who came to the young actress’ aid. Vaibhavi revealed, “Alia had herself gone and visited Shah Rukh for a day to learn this, because she’d never done a song like this either, except a little bit of Ishq Wala Love in her first film. But then how to handle the pallu, handle the sari, see the hero gush at you, maintain your hair, fighting all the wind in a chiffon sari in sub-zero temperatures.”

She added, “We also use the fan to counter the wind and ensure the sari flows in a beautiful way. You’re even listening to the song at a faster speed, so to maintain the sanity of your expression, to emote and lip-sync in high speed… for me, that was a challenge. Because these aren’t veterans of this kind of songs. You’ve seen Shah Rukh and Kajol do it a hundred times because it was a norm in those days.”

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On Ranveer-Ali comparisons with SRK-Kajol

Vaibhavi insists that they were expecting SRK-Kajol comparisons to come. But they also knew once the film releases, they will be put to rest. She said, “We knew that we’d done the best of what we could do under the circumstances we were in. There was an actress who was nursing her baby between the takes. We know the stories behind every shot that’s been put out there.”

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani stars Ranveer and Alia alongside veterans Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and Dharmendra. The film released on July 28, 2023 and has collected Rs 60.22 crores in 5 days of release. It earned positive reviews from critics and is going strong commercially worldwide.

Also Read: Alia Bhatt talks about postpartum effects while she shot for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani song Tum Kya Mile