Divya Bharti, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Shah Rukh Khan in a party. (Courtesy: SRKUniverse)
During his initial years in Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan featured in the movie titled, Dil Aashna Hai, which was produced and directed by Hema Malini. Shah Rukh Khan was cast opposite Divya Bharti in the movie and the actor was quite new in the profession back then. Hema Malini, in her interview with Bharathi S Pradhan, recalled the days of Dil Aashna Hai and revealed that her "guru ma" encouraged her to sign Shah Rukh Khan for the movie. Hema Malini also revealed it's her "guru ma" who predicted Shah Rukh's super stardom back in the day.
Hema Malini said, during the interview, that the movie's title was also given by her "guru maa". Sharing the details of her encounter with "guru maa", Hema Malini said, "I said, 'Ma, I'm making a film'. And she only gave the name Dil Aashna Hai. She said, 'You're getting a very big hero'. I didn't understand, I told her we have a new hero. She said, 'No, no, no, you're getting a very big hero'. And he became big, no? She can see over the years, what is going to happen."
Hema Malini said she spotted Shah Rukh in the serial Fauzi. The script of Dil Aashna Hai was getting prepared then and Hema decided to cast Shah Rukh after watching Fauzi. "He was very cute and sweet in Fauji, the TV serial. I used to watch that. That time, my script was getting ready. And for that character, I wanted somebody new. I said, 'This boy is looking so nice, I want him only,'" Hema said during the interview. Hema also added that her sister first contacted Shah Rukh and Dharmendra also "loved him" after getting introduced to Shah Rukh.
Dil Aashna Hai (1992) stars Divya Bharti, Shah Rukh Khan, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh and Sonu Walia in pivotal roles. Later, Hema Malini also directed a movie titled Tell Me O Kkhuda (2011). It stars Esha Deol, Arjan Bajwa, Sudhanshu Pandey, Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor, Farooq Sheikh, Deepti Naval and Chandan Roy Sanyal.
Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan has been hogging the limelight with his Jawan prevue since it released on Monday. The film also features Nayanthara, and Vijay Sethupathi in lead roles, Deepika Padukone in a special appearance, along with Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Girija Oak, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Lehar Khan, Aaliyah Qureshi, Ridhi Dogra, Sunil Grover. Jawan, directed by Atlee, is slated to release on September 7 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.