Actor Shah Rukh Khan is as popular for his humility as he is for his acting chops. Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia recently reminisced about the days when he worked as a dialogue writer for Mani Ratnam’s 1998 film Dil Se, which had Shah Rukh in the lead. He shared that Shah Rukh had no pretensions of being a big star and didn’t even mind taking a nap on the floor of a bus in the absence of a vanity van.

“He is a very humble person. I can’t even tell you. I could see that even during Dil Se, and he was already a big star at that time,” Tigmanshu said. Mashable India. He recalled that when they were shooting for Dil Se in Ladakh, there were no vanity vans and Shah Rukh used to sleep on the floor of the bus during lunch time. Also, he would not stop anyone from boarding the bus, even if he was sleeping.

Tigmanshu told, “When we were shooting in Ladakh with Mani sir, you would just travel on the roads and he would decide that he has to shoot here. So during lunch, there was no vanity van or anything. The bus in which we were travelling, the route where people walk, Shah Rukh would take a nap there for 30 minutes during lunch. But we (crew members) had luggage in the bus, so we would keep coming in and out. Sometimes, we would walk over him to take a jacket or something, but he never objected to anything.”

He said, “He never said that no one can enter the bus when I am sleeping. He could have done that. He is the star of the film. If he wants to sleep for 30 minutes, he should get that time without any disturbance, but that never happened.”

After Dil Se, Tigmanshu got a chance to work with Shah Rukh in the 2018 film Zero, which was produced by the actor’s Red Chillies Entertainment. On the sets of the film, he made sure everyone was comfortable and had lunch.

He recalled, “During Zero, it was his home production and there were many other actors there. Shah Rukh was very respectful towards everyone. He would choose chairs for everyone and ask them if they had had lunch.”These are their rituals Tigmanshu said, “These are his values. His manners are what make him great.”

After the failure of Zero, Shah Rukh Khan took a four-year break and returned to the big screen in 2021 with hits like Pathan and Jawaan. He will next be seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s King alongside his daughter Suhana and actor Abhishek Bachchan.