Did you know Shah Rukh Khan's 1999 film Baadshah was in the making for almost seven long years?

Shah Rukh Khan is known as the King Khan of Bollywood today. But the talented actor did not become a star overnight. Coming from a completely non-filmy background, the 'Don' actor made his first career move when he shifted to Mumbai from his hometown Delhi. He now wears many hats. That of a businessman, father, producer and film personality, but SRK is primarily known for his impressive filmography over the years. It is a known fact that SRK did not get his break on to the big screen immediately. In fact, he wriggled his way to the top by starting off in television serials in the late '80s like Fauji, Circus and Idiot. 

It was only after a string of roles on television that SRK was noticed. Then came the big break in 1992. When Shah Rukh moved to Mumbai to make a career and find the love of his life Gauri Khan, he signed on four films. If you are a die-hard SRK fan, you would already know that SRK made his debut in films in 1992 with Deewana alongside Divya Bharti and Rishi Kapoor. Lucky for him, SRK's debut was a massive hit at the box office and his films soon after launched him to greater heights.

However, it was in 1993 that SRK made a remarkable shift in his choice of characters and picked negative roles. If his energetic and chirpy characters were loved in the first few films, the audiences adored him for his villainous roles in Daar and Baazigar. During the entire period of the '90s, SRK went on to register several box office hits. But in 1999, SRK had only one release which was Abbas-Mastan's action comedy film Baadshah. Did you know that the film was at least seven years in the making?

At the launch party of the film in August 1999, Shah Rukh who faced a considerable number of hits and misses at the box office by then, had revealed that the title track of Baadhshah was actually written on the day Baazigar released. That means it was written back in 1993 and was in the pipeline since then. Explaining the delay in the making of Baadshah, SRK had addressed the press at the time and said, "We had a different story in the beginning when we started this film. And somewhere down the line we decided not to make that kind of film. So, of course we had to re-write it. We had to stop. Then in between some date hassles happened. Abbas Mastan had to make a film. I had to make some other commitments. So we stopped the film then." 

He further added, "So it's taken a little long to complete this film but this film's title song (Baadshah, O Baadshah) was written on the day Baazigar was released. So, yes it's been a long time and I hope it's worth the wait."  

At the launch party, SRK was also asked about the film's success compared to 1993's Baazigar at the time. He said, "After Baazigar, Abbas-Mastan went on to be more successful. I went on to be more successful. So if we have to worry about any kind of success, we have to worry about the success we have now. We are not going to bother about the success we had during Baazigar. During Baazigar we all started together. We were newcomers. Abbas-Mastan had just started, Venus had just started. I had started, Kajol had started, it was Shilpa Shetty's first film. So we all had started, we had nothing to lose. Now, if we have to measure it by then, then we already have a successful film. But we have to measure it by our success today..then we have to work very hard."  He had also revealed that his favourite song from the film was Woh Ladki Jo Sabse Alag Hai. 

Baadshah went on to decent business at the box office. But if it would have not hit the theatres in 1999, SRK would have not had a single release in the year 1999 breaking his own record. 

Which is your favourite SRK film from the '90s? Let us know in the comments below.