The ‘friend’ they chose

How did once-rivals, Shah Rukh Khan & Sunny Deol end up with a common buddy?

Meena Iyer

In a world full of people, it’s sheer coincidence that two Bollywood superstars, eight years apart and bitter-rivals in the mid-90s—Shah Rukh Khan (60) and Sunny Deol (68), end up with one common good friend.

Mohra kaun hai?

Bollywood producer-concert organiser, Karim Morani is the pawn on the chess board. He is closer to Sunny’s age than SRK’s. Sunny and he are bachpan ke dost. They reportedly met in school. Since they also lived in Juhu, their proximity grew. It was a classic case of opposites attracting. The reserved superstar-son, Sunny found a buddy in the flamboyant, Karim.

They took their friendship to the next level when Karim’s banner, Cineyug, produced three superhit films with Sunny including Rahul Rawail’s Arjun (1985), Umesh Mehra’s Vardi (1989) and Rajkumar Santoshi’s Damini (1993). For 60 years now, Karim has kept every secret of Sunny’s safe. And, he is the only one who can waltz in and out of the Dharmendra household without hesitation.

Karim & co, minted money on SRK's name

Karim and his brothers-Ali and Mohammad Morani whose core business is fireworks also ventured into stage shows in the 80s. And, they hit a high, when they started doing shows with the Khans—Aamir and Salman in 1993. However, they first tasted blood when they took Shah Rukh on a world tour in the 90s. SRK had delivered global hits like Baazigar (1993), Darr (1993) Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Karan-Arjun (1995) and scores of other films including Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). And he was a worldwide craze. Since SRK sold internationally, the Moranis minted money on concerts with the badshah.

Karim allegedly took a detour from Juhu to Bandstand 

Smitten by SRK’s charm, the Moranis, especially Karim, became a close member of Khan’s kitchen-cabinet at his home, Mannat in Bandstand. He was advisor to the baazigar, not in an official capacity, but as a friend. And, at one point, he allegedly became closer to SRK than Sunny.

Sunny never let his hurt show

If the Batwara 1947 actor Sunny missed his best friend not being around that much in that phase, he never showed it. As always, being the super-shy guy that he is, Sunny kept his feelings private.

Around 2007/08, stage-concerts went out of fashion

World tours of Bollywood that began with Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi and Anil Kapoor in the 90s, peaked with the Khans-Salman, Aamir, SRK and Akshay Kumar. However, around 2008, the curtains literally came down on these high-voltage song-n-dance affairs. Being sharp businessmen, the Moranis shifted gear. Karim was a producer on SRK’s home-production, Ra.One (2011), and he was closely involved in super hits like Chennai Express (2013).

SRK stood by Karim through tough days

When Karim faced legal trouble for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, SRK reportedly stood by him like a rock. He even launched Karim’s daughter, Zoa in the Roshan Abbas directorial, Always Kabhi Kabhi (2011).

Today, Karim is also back in Sunny’s kitchen cabinet 

Like we said at the start, Sunny and SRK have nothing in common except their profession and their friendship with Karim. Today, Morani even gets a special thanks to Karim in Sunny’s films like the recent Batwara 1947. And, he reportedly closes money deals for the Border 2 actor. In a world full of odds, both these diametrically-disconnected superstars were once bitter-rivals after Yash Chopra’s Darr (1993), because the villain, SRK won more accolades than the hero, Sunny. Today, camaraderie and Karim loom large in both their lives. Like lyricist Verma Malik wrote in 1974, yeh time, time ki baat hai jaani.