Updated on: Nov 02, 2025 03:18 pm IST
On Shah Rukh Khan’s 60th birthday, his Circus co-star Renuka Shahane spoke about how the actor was content with doing television before transitioning to films.
Shah Rukh Khan may be known as a film star today, but there was a time in the late 1980s when he was a sensation on television. It’s only in the early 90s that he transitioned to films, kicking off the career he’s known for today. In an interview with SCREEN, Renuka Shahane recollected how Shah Rukh was content being a TV star even as his mother (Lateef Fatima) wanted her son to be a movie star.
Renuka Sahane says Shah Rukh was content as TV star
Renuka and Shah Rukh starred together in the 1989 TV show Circus, in which he played Shekharan Rai and she played Maria. Recollecting how he was already a TV star due to Fauji (1988), Renuka said, “I think the kind of craze I have seen for him after Fauji was while we were shooting for Circus. We were surprised. He didn’t even want to go into the film industry at that time. He was very happy doing television.”
She also recalled him feeling like theatre and TV were his space, but it was his mom who hoped that he would be a movie star someday. “People would also say that he should be a film star, but Shah Rukh Khan told them that theatre, television, this is his space. It was only later that he kind of went into the industry. Maybe because his mom was very keen that her son should become a film star. And oh my God, what a film star he has become,” said Renuka.
Shah Rukh Khan’s transition from TV to films
Shah Rukh dabbled in theatre and had his first starring role in the 1988 TV show Dil Dariya. However, due to production delays, Fauji marked his acting debut, and the series based on army cadets made him a household name. He also starred in TV shows like Circus, Idiot, Umeed and Wagle Ki Duniya after that.
Despite gaining fame, Shah Rukh wasn’t initially interested in acting. It was only after his mother’s death in 1990 that he changed his mind and moved to Mumbai from Delhi to pursue a career in Bollywood. He debuted on the silver screen with the 1992 film Deewana, and there has been no looking back after that.
Following the release of the 2023 films Pathaan and Jawan, Shah Rukh will star in Siddharth Anand’s King, slated for release in 2026.
