‘He could have raped her, but didn’t’: Honey Irani defends SRK’s obsessive role in Darr

Irani, who co-wrote the film, said,“He was crazy about her. We were very conscious that we didn’t want it to look like lust. It shouldn’t be that he just wants to be with her and sleep with her and stuff like that. He says, ‘I will marry you, I will make you meet my mother’.”

Referring to a tense scene in the movie, Irani added:“Otherwise, he could have raped her when they were on the boat, but it wasn’t that. So we made that very clear that there is a very thin line in this.”

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Darr, directed by Yash Chopra, revolves around Rahul, a man obsessed with a woman named Kiran (played by Juhi Chawla), despite her being engaged to another man (played by Sunny Deol). While SRK’s performance was lauded at the time for its intensity, modern viewers often criticize the film for romanticizing stalking and obsessive behavior.

Despite Rahul terrorizing Kiran throughout the film and forcing his presence into her life, Irani described him as a “complex” man.“He had his own problems. Even when he said her name, he would be so scared that he would stammer.”

Irani also revealed that before SRK was cast, the script had been offered to Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol.“We narrated it to Aamir but something happened between him and Yash ji. He said no. Sunny said he would do the hero role. Then we talked to Shah Rukh and he jumped on it. He said ‘yeah, definitely I am doing it’.”

Her comments have sparked backlash online, with many questioning the normalization of disturbing male behavior under the guise of “love.” The debate around Darr continues, decades after its release, now reignited by the writer’s provocative remarks.