Sidharth Malhotra Shares His Experience Of Working As Assistant Director For Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan

Sidharth Malhotra served as an assistant director on Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan prior to making his acting debut and the actor has spoken about his experience shooting with SRK. He made his acting debut in Karan's Student Of The Year in 2012. Before being introduced by the banner itself, he and Varun worked on the Dharma Productions set. Given that he knew Sidharth wanted to be an actor, the veteran performer even offered him some advice.

Sidharth revealed that his parents were unsure that anyone would cast him in a movie at first. He moved to Mumbai at the age of 21. He was able to get a picture, but it was never produced. When the project's directors were changed, Sidharth quit. He told the new directors that he no longer believed in the idea. He later changed to being an assistant director. It was because, despite never having attended film school, he could pick things up and learn on a real film set. He got to interact with an idol of his, thus it was a great choice. Sidharth discussed working with Shah Rukh Khan in Los Angeles on the first day of the filming. Siddharth shared his experience with actor-comedian Zakir Khan. The chat is a feature posted on Netflix India's YouTube channel. He recalled, “I had rehearsed for the clap so I wouldn't fumble in front of him. He was very sweet. His warmth is quite apparent. It might be because of his upbringing. He makes everyone around him comfortable. On the first day, I couldn't speak at all.” Sidharth shared, "Only Shah Rukh sir and I were at that location. It was somewhere on a road. He suddenly started talking to me, 'You know you should always first come and see if you can use anything on location as a prop.' I thought, 'There's just two of us here, who's he talking to?' Because he knew that I wanted to be an actor. So very sweetly, he was telling me, 'You have to see if you can use anything.' He's very sharp that way. He creates many things on the spot. From there, my respect and my love for him grew even more." On January 20, Mission Majnu, a new movie starring Sidharth and Rashmika Mandanna, made its Netflix debut. In July 2023, he will also appear in Yodha, an action thriller starring Disha Patani and Raashii Khanna.