The police, however, weren't relying on Salem keeping his word. Mohan Bhise stayed with Shah Rukh for a little over a month. After him came a series of policeman with automatic weapons. Salem's calls continued. Except now, like an old friend who seldom has time to meet, he was calling to chat and catch up.
Salem would make small talk with Shah Rukh. He would try to extract information about other actors and directors. He would also slip in enough details to let Shah Rukh know that at that given moment, Salem knew the actor's whereabouts, whom he was sitting with, and where his security guards were standing. He made fun of the police's attempts to guard Shah Rukh.
"He would tell me that he could see me," Shah Rukh said. "It was like living under a telescope. It was very depressing and very scary."
Shah Rukh followed Rakesh Maria's dictum: Be polite, don't take information, and don't give any either.
But after every conversation, Shah Rukh agonised over his words and wondered if he'd managed to say the right thighs and keep the peace.
"I'm not macho enough to turn around and say that I wasn't scared of any of these guys. I was shit scared."
But the grim circumstances of Shah Rukh's life did not impact his work.
In the picture: SRK in a still from Kal Ho Naa Ho.
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