The veteran actor looks back at the Darr controversy, explains why he never considered SRK an enemy and reveals how their equation changed with time
The long-discussed Darr fallout between Sunny Deol and Shah Rukh Khan has resurfaced, but this time with a much more reflective tone. In a recent conversation with Shubhankar Mishra, Sunny opened up about his equation with SRK, the insecurities he believes can affect actors and why the two were never really “enemies” despite their famous fallout.
Looking back at his younger days, Sunny admitted that actors can sometimes have “a little something” between them, but insisted that insecurity never defined his personality.
“I am not an insecure person. I am never insecure on set,” Sunny said, explaining that actors sometimes allow insecurity to influence their behaviour.
According to him, performers should simply concentrate on playing their characters rather than trying to become something beyond the role.
His larger point was about the atmosphere on a film set. Sunny feels that when insecurity enters the equation, “the vibes go wrong”, and situations can develop that otherwise would never have happened.
‘He Wasn’t My Enemy Either’ – Perhaps the most interesting part of Sunny’s latest comments came when he was asked whether he and Shah Rukh are friends today.
Sunny offered a typically straightforward answer. He said SRK was never his enemy and added that people working in the film industry are essentially colleagues. That statement is significant because the Darr episode had once become one of Bollywood’s most talked about actor rivalries.
Released in 1993, Yash Chopra’s Darr featured Sunny as Sunil Malhotra, a naval officer, while Shah Rukh played Rahul Mehra, the obsessive antagonist. Juhi Chawla starred opposite Sunny in the film.
Shah Rukh’s character, despite being the villain, became hugely popular with audiences, while Sunny’s heroic character did not receive the conventional treatment expected from a mainstream Bollywood hero.
What Actually Happened During ‘Darr’?Over the years, the story surrounding Darr has developed into Bollywood folklore. Sunny had objected to the climax in which Shah Rukh’s character attacks his character despite Sunil being established as a highly trained and physically capable officer.
A 16-Year Gap In Communication -Following the release of Darr, Sunny and Shah Rukh reportedly went without speaking for around 16 years, but Sunny has repeatedly clarified that the silence was not necessarily an active campaign against SRK. He has said that he naturally kept to himself and did not socialise much, meaning the two simply did not cross paths.
In fact, Sunny has previously described the entire episode as “bachpana”, or childishness, suggesting that with age and perspective, the intensity of the disagreement has naturally faded.
SRK had also congratulated Sunny on the success of Gadar 2, and Sunny later spoke warmly about the support he received from colleagues across the industry. Reflecting on that phase, Sunny said that people had moved ahead in life and become more secure and content with themselves. He also suggested that time has a way of putting old disagreements into perspective.
Interestingly, Shah Rukh’s performance as Rahul Mehra went on to become one of the most iconic villainous performances in Hindi cinema. The character’s obsessive “K-k-k-Kiran” became part of popular culture, while the film itself remains one of Yash Chopra’s most distinctive thrillers.
However, Sunny’s career received a major boost with Gadar 2, which became a huge theatrical success and brought him back into the centre of Bollywood conversations.
He is now also headlining Batwara 1947, his latest collaboration with filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi. The Partition-era drama, backed by Aamir Khan Productions, features Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal and Karan Deol alongside Sunny. The film released around Independence Day and has generated attention for its historical subject and Sunny’s performance.
At the box office, Batwara 1947 opened to around ₹5 crore in India on Day 1 and recorded approximately ₹26.50 crore over its first weekend.
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