When Shah Rukh Khan tricked Mani Ratnam into letting him dance to the song ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’

Today is Mani Ratnam's 66th birthday. The National Award-winning filmmaker is known for blockbusters such as Guru (2007), Roja (1992), and Dil Se (1998), to name a few. The 1998 film, Dil Se starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala stands out in his filmography as one of the most loved films of all time. But did you know that SRK tricked Mani Ratnam into allowing him to dance to the iconic song “Chaiyya Chaiyya”?

In 2017, Gulzar told an unusual story about “Chaiyya Chaiyya”, revealing that Shah Rukh Khan didn't want to perform the song with fakirs in the backdrop when he first heard the lyrics. Later, the superstar tricked Mani Ratnam by claiming that the song had a deep poem and that he wanted to dance to it.

Gulzar was the one who realized Shah Rukh Khan wanted to dance on “Chaiyya Chaiyya”. He said, “Mani asked me if it is very high poetry, and I said yes. And this is how SRK tricked Mani and fulfilled his wish of dancing to the tune of “Chaiyya Chaiyya”, which became a hit number.”

AR Rahman composed “Chaiyya Chaiyya”, and Gulzar wrote the lyrics. It was inspired by a Sufi song called “Thaiyya Thaiyya” by Bulleh Shah, and was sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi. Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora were seen dancing on the top of a moving train in the song. Farah Khan, interestingly, won the Filmfare Award for outstanding choreography for the song that year.