Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan are two megastars of the Indian film industry who have not just earned the love of millions of stars but have also brought the Hindi film industry to center stage. During a recent interview, popular casting director Mukesh Chhabra opened up about the narrative created that Salman is an ‘underutilized’ star. He also called SRK the ‘last of the stars’.

Mukesh was talking to Ranveer Allahbadia when he spoke about Salman Khan’s legacy and the iconic performances he gave in some of his films. When asked if he thinks the bhaijaan is an underutilized actor, the casting director stated, “Nhi bhai, unhone boht achi performances di hai. (No, he has given many great performances.)”

Chhabra, who has also directed Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara, goes on to mention some of the best works of the actor namely Baaghi, Patthar Ke Phool, Tere Naam, Love, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, and states that there’s no one who could perform the way he did in these movies. Thinking about why people think this way, the casting director further added that when the bhaijaan of Bollywood would want to perform, he will. In fact, he has already done it with several iconic Hindi films.

Talking about such narratives created about the megastar, Mukesh Chhabra stated that there are some people on social media who are creating them. “2-4 log social media pe Chintu, Bablu, Tinku ghoom rahe hai… (There are some random people like Chintu, Bablu, and Tinku who are creating such narratives.)” He further stated that no one can do the “simple and honest” character that he played in Bajrangi Bhaijaan or come close to his role in films like No Entry, Partner, and more. “We want such film,” he stated adding that those films became hits despite there being any promotional strategy in place, unlike today.

Further on, in the same chat, Mukesh also talked about Shah Rukh Khan being considered the ‘last of the stars’. When quizzed about this notion, he replied positively. Chhabra also divulged that people might think why he said this but according to him, that’s the truth. “It’s said that the galaxy is huge and there can be many stars, but he will remain the biggest,” he stated adding that there are many who are doing some great jobs but no one can be ‘The’ Shah Rukh Khan.

Addressing the outsider and insider debate in Bollywood, he stated that he is an outsider and is sitting on the top. SRK is the biggest answer to the debate, Mukesh exclaimed. Sharing his experience of working with King Khan in Jawan, Chhabra added that one would get scared looking at the hard work he does in his movies. The actor doesn’t need to work so hard but he does because of his passion, he mentioned. “Looking at him, one would think a person should be just like him,” the Dil Bechara director stated.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Shah Rukh Khan is gearing up to commence shooting for his upcoming action movie, King this year. Helmed by Sujoy Ghosh and produced by Shah Rukh Khan and Siddharth Anand, it also marks Suhana Khan’s big break after her debut with Zoya Akhtar’s OTT film, The Archies. Abhishek Bachchan is also expected to play a villainous character in it.

Robert Downey Jr.’s career reached its peak when he grabbed the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. However, like every actor, he regretted saying yes to certain films, and one of them was U.S. Marshals— the sequel/spinoff to Harrison Ford’s The Fugitive. Despite getting to work with Tommy Lee Jones, one of the best actors at the time, Downey dreaded going to the sets of the film. 

Ben Falk’s book Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid (via Far Out Magazine) featured a quote from the Iron Man actor in which he talked about the film he hated more than prison. The quote said he’d “rather wake up in jail for a TB test than have to wake up another morning knowing I’m going to the set of U.S. Marshals.”

The actor continued to take digs at the film’s quality, labeling it as “Possibly the worst action movie of all time.” Although he didn’t go into specifics, he recalled him and Ford running around the set and “pretending to hold a candle to The Fugitive.”