Love was in the air when "Jawan" director Atlee and actor Vijay Sethupathi joined Shah Rukh Khan at an event here to celebrate the film's success and went on to proclaim their admiration for the Bollywood superstar.
The Tamil filmmaker, who made his Hindi cinema debut with the blockbuster film, said if he had to describe "Jawan", he would call it "a love letter of mine to Mr SRK". Sethupathi's Kaali may have been the chief antagonist in the film, but the actor was full of praise for the director, the team and especially for Shah Rukh.
He said he got many calls from people in Chennai, saying they could not get tickets for the first day, first show of the movie.
"They love him so much but then it is not a surprise for me because SRK the name is enough. Everybody loves him so much and then the way he behaves and the way he treats people, he just only gives love. If somebody has written SRK, you can go and just hug the name also. I love you sir," the "Vikram Vedha" star said.
Shah Rukh shouted back, saying, "I love you back more sir and after this press conference, if I may propose to you, then we may marry now sir." Sethupathi continued the banter, adding, "Nothing wrong sir".
Atlee, who has worked on Tamil blockbusters such as "Mersal", "Theri" and "Bigil" with superstar Thalapathy Vijay in South, said he didn't have a formula to "get the right balance".
"I'm not a writer, director, I'm a fan, and fan not to an individual, but to cinema. Whatever attracts me... Whatever feels right, I make it. I don't know the formula, I can't explain the formula or how I find this," he said, adding that he took a lot of things from life and people around him and presented it in the form of cinema.
The filmmaker also spoke about how when producers were shying away from even spending Rs 30-40 crore on a movie during Covid, SRK took the risk of greenlighting "Jawan", a Rs 300 crore project.
"But we didn't finish in Rs 300 crore, we went more," he said about the movie that has made almost Rs 700 crore at the box office since its release on September 7.
Shah Rukh praised the young director for "the amount of love" he put in making "Jawan".
"I have always been a fan of the cinema of South even when I don't understand the language at times. I have tried to watch it, now fortunately you can hear it in dubbed and read subtitles. But to come here and to create the cinema for the whole of the country, for me, more than happiness, it is one of the greatest satisfactions, of having worked in the Indian film industry for 32 years," the actor said.
Talking about his approach to a scene, Sethupathi said he tried to understand the vision of Atlee as he loves his films.
"Shah Rukh sir gives so much energy. One day we were shooting, he is a big man with a big heart, I get some ideas, and I try it, I'm like, 'sir, I'm sorry sir'. He is like, 'Do it'. So, that gives confident. He is a person, I love and respect, and him saying, 'You are doing good', that gives you confidence," the actor added.
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