Sharing how he came across the memes, the actor says, “My team sent it to me. In the beginning, we were just laughing and enjoying the whole thing and then it started going vira. There was not only one meme. A lot of people made this comparison between Shah Rukh Khan and me as Arshad Pappu. It was a nice thing to happen actually. Shah Rukh Khan being the actor that he is and the person he is, I like being with him in one frame even though it’s a meme.” While they have never worked together, Ashwin hopes to meet SRK one day. “I hope to see him soon. When I meet Shah Rukh, we’ll talk about this meme. It could be a good beginning, an ice breaker,” says the Dhurandhar actor.

Ashwin also opens up about co-star Akshaye Khanna, who played the role of Arshad’s onscreen nemesis, gangster Rehman Dakait. “No, I never met Akshaye. I just saw him once when I was there on the set. But I had no scene with him. Although in the film, there are only two gangs in Lyari. Rehman Dakait gang and Arshad Pappu gang. Arshad Pappu happened to kill Rehman Dakait and later Rehman Dakait’s brother Uzair killed Arshad Pappu. But Akshaye and I didn’t interact since there was no scene between us. But as far as I could see, he was quiet and sitting in his own world. And he’s like that. Everybody says this. Akshaye was there, being an actor, a quiet actor, a thinking actor. And he seemed like a very nice human being also, meeting everyone on the set. Very nice human being.”

Talking about reuniting with Ranveer Singh after Padmaavat (2018), Ashwin shares, “Ranveer is absolutely the same. A bundle of energy, he’s making jokes, meeting people. Whenever he’s on the set, there is another kind of energy. But he has definitely grown as an actor.”

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is all set to share screen space with his daughter Suhana Khan in King, a collaboration that has already sparked considerable buzz. Now, actor Saurabh Shukla, who is part of the film, has opened up about their camaraderie on set, noting that the father-daughter duo maintained a highly professional approach throughout.

“I worked with him in Badshah. He was a rising star then. At that time, I didn’t meet him much; we interacted only briefly. Over the years, I have met Shah Rukh at different times in different ways. Shah Rukh is definitely a very good businessman; his business sense is excellent. Otherwise, it is not possible to create such an empire and hold it single-handedly. Of course, now there is an army of people, but he has created that army himself. He has great support from his family; all of that is there,” Saurabh said.

The actor also opened up about witnessing Shah Rukh in a completely different light – as a father – while working on King, where he stars alongside his daughter, Suhana Khan.

“Shah Rukh is a very wise father. There is being protective, but I think he gives ample freedom to his children because they have their own voice. He is not possessive or overly protective. Of course, a father will be protective, but he is wonderful. On set, he was like a colleague, like a co-actor with Suhana. He was rehearsing and suggesting things like any co-actor would,” Saurabh said.

During a fan meet, Shah Rukh spoke about his character in King and said, “The character of King is very interesting. Siddharth and Sujoy Ghosh have written it with a lot of love. And it has a lot of evil in it. He’s a killer. He kills people. But for storytelling, it’s very important that heroes like me play different roles: some inspiring, some comic, some romantic. So that’s what I’m trying to do now. I do one big film every one or two years because I also know that making films has become very difficult now. So films should be made carefully, so that I don’t let people down.”

Produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Marflix Pictures, King is scheduled to release in cinemas on 24 December 2026.

After Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo, actor Simu Liu has seemingly joined the list of actors who have dropped major spoilers from ‘Avengers’ films. The ‘Shang Chi’ actor had all eyes on him and his social media feed after he appeared to hint at potential character appearances in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, which have long been kept a secret.

Simu Liu drops major ‘Doomsday’ spoiler

Robert Downey Jr, who is set to portray the lead villain, Doctor Doom in the upcoming film, posted ‘Easter-eggs’ on his handle, featuring a basket of eggs carrying logos of superheroes set to appear in the upcoming ‘Doomsday’ film. These characters included the confirmed characters of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Namor, Thor, Loki, Captain Ameria, Ant Man and Shang-Chi.Fans quickly noticed two additional symbols in the artwork that appeared to reference Doctor Strange and Spider-Man characters long rumoured to feature in the film but not officially confirmed.

Simu Liu teases Tom Holland’s return

Liu, reshared Downey’s post on his Instagram story, with the addition of the logos and the actors playing the roles. The post quickly gained traction online, simply because fans seemed convinced that Liu accidentally revealed key details about Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland joining the Avengers in their upcoming battle.

Fans react to post

“At this point can I call this confirmed lol look at Simu Liu’s Instagram story,” one user wrote, while another questioned whether the inclusion pointed to confirmations for Doctor Strange and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.With ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ still in post-production with additional reshoots currently on in full swing, questions about new cast members joining the already stacked lineup of superheroes is not unlikely. The upcoming shoots also leave room for additional characters and actors to be incorporated even after initial announcements.