While Main Hoon Na became a blockbuster hit, Zayed Khan’s casting in the film involved some unexpected drama. In an interview, Zayed opened up about the moment he was asked a blunt question by Shah Rukh Khan before landing the role. The question? “Can you act?” Zayed admitted that the remark stung at the time, but ultimately, things worked out as he went on to star alongside the Bollywood superstar in the film.
Zayed shared that it all began when director Farah Khan asked him to meet her at Shah Rukh Khan’s office. Describing the experience, Zayed recalled, “Farah looks at me, and I tell her ‘I don’t know why I’m here,’ and she just says, ‘Shut up for two minutes.’ I felt she was very rude.” He tried to continue the conversation when Shah Rukh Khan entered the room. Zayed remembered SRK as being his usual charming self—”sweet, loving, and well-mannered.”
During the meeting, Zayed khan found himself trying to absorb everything being discussed, but he was caught off guard when Shah Rukh eventually got to the point and said they were offering him the second lead in Main Hoon Na. It was at this moment that SRK posed the now-famous question, “Kya tum actor ho? Acting kar sakte ho?” (Are you an actor? Can you act?). Zayed admitted, “I felt bad that he asked me that. I wanted to ask him, ‘Can you act?’ But instead, I responded, ‘I was born to act.’” Though it was not meant to sound arrogant, Zayed explained, he was hurt by the directness of the question.
Despite the tense exchange, things worked out, and Zayed went on to play a key role in the film. Main Hoon Na, released in 2004, marked Farah Khan’s directorial debut and became a major success. The film starred Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan, and Suniel Shetty, cementing Zayed’s place in Bollywood.
