When ‘Chak De! India’ opened poorly, and SRK fled to London to escape the trauma

The waiting period

"Shimit made it beautifully and I am glad that Adi (producer Aditya Chopra) thought of me as Kabir Khan. They waited for me for more than a year. The heart and the soul of the film are the young girls." [sic]

The reason behind signing ‘Chak De! India’

"My father used to play hockey. The only reason I did this film was because I could use something that my father had taught me. I was emotionally attached with the film.” [sic]

What disturbed Shah Rukh Khan?

Although, ‘Chak De! India’ looked promising, it did not open well at the box office, unlike SRK's other films. This can be attributed to Shah Rukh's romantic on-screen image. SRK says, “It is one of the few films of mine which opened very poorly. I was really disturbed. But it did really well after opening poorly." [sic]

Shah Rukh Khan fled to London

It was after the film’s first screening that Shah Rukh Khan felt nervous about the film's fate and decided to leave for London and the reason behind it was that he was sad and didn’t want to listen to anything negative about this film which he considered to be a special one in his career. He said, “It was a lovely film and I did not want to hear all that (negativity)." [sic]

‘Chak De! India’, a huge success

Certainly, destiny seemed to have had other plans for ‘Chak De! India’. After opening on a poor note, the film received unconditional love and praises from the whole country and ultimately went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year. Shah Rukh Khan’s performance as coach Kabir Khan is still regarded as one of his best performances till date.