Who inspired Shah Rukh Khan’s Famous Arm Pose?

For over 30 years, Shah Rukh Khan has been one of the most iconic Bollywood stars.

Among the many aspects that fans adore, his inimitable arm pose is trendy.

It features SRK lifting his arms and spreading them out. He is known to do this during romantic scenes and song sequences.

At the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, Shah Rukh recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

During the occasion, he revealed who inspired his famous action.

He said: “I think what happened is in Indian cinema, especially during the 1990s, dip was a real thing.

“I couldn’t do dip. Because of this, I was quite ashamed of myself. All night, I kept practising it in my room.

“The next morning, I remember saying to my choreographer Saroj Khan, ‘Ma’am, ready?’

“She said, ‘Yes, but as you cannot do dips, you just stand there and put your arms out’.

“I did dips for her and she was like, ‘No, no, don’t do it. It doesn’t look nice on you’.

“So, she didn’t let me do the dip and I had to put my arms out.”

This trademark proved to be a stroke of genius for SRK as fans all around the world loved it.

At the same event, Shah Rukh also praised the South Indian film industry.

He said: “They have some of the greatest superstars of our country and we all know it in India.

“It’s just that with some of the huge hits like Jawan, RRR and Baahubali, everybody started noticing it all over.

“But cinematically and technically, South cinema is really fantastic.

“It was a desire after working with Mani Ratnam to work in a South genre film, not just get a South Indian director to direct a movie.

“The South has a very different take on storytelling, larger-than-life, robust, lots of music going on. I really enjoy it.”

Jawan starred Shah Rukh in 2023 and was directed by Atlee. It was a huge blockbuster.

Sharing Atlee’s connection with his father, SRK continued: “[Atlee and I] had a lot of fun. Language was a bit of an issue to start off with.

“But then we started gesticulating. I looked at Atlee who is a wonderful guy.

“He incidentally also had a baby while we were making the film. He named him after my father.

“So, in South when you call ‘Sir’, you say, ‘Garu’.

“So, I would say, ‘Garu’ and he would reply, ‘Mass,’ which means ‘good’.

“We had some lovely actors like Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara Ji.

“It was one of the first fusions of Hindi and South Indian cinema which transcended boundaries. It did good business and was loved across the nation.”

Shah Rukh Khan also delved into his disdain for the character, Devdas Mukherjee.

He portrayed the role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas (2002).

SRK explained: “It is about a guy who becomes an alcoholic and doesn’t commit to a girl.

“At that time I couldn’t find an essence in it at my age.

“Many years later, Sanjay Leela Bhansali came to me and he said, ‘I want you to do Devdas’.

“I said, ‘He is a loser, alcoholic, I’m too cool to be Devdas’.

“Before leaving he said, ‘I’ll not make this film if not with you, because your eyes are like Devdas’.

“For a year, he couldn’t cast anyone so I said, ‘If you cannot find eyes like mine, I will do the film’.

“It was one of the three most wonderful experiences of my life. I don’t like playing characters which demean women.

“I didn’t want him to be liked for being someone who disses women.

“I wanted him to come across as a person who is spineless. He is not somebody you should look up to.”

For Devdas, SRK won the 2003 Filmfare ‘Best Actor’ award.

Interestingly, in Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), Shah Rukh Khan made a special appearance as himself.

The scene showed a young Laal (Ahmad Ibn Umar) teaching SRK the arm pose he later used to become a superstar.

Shah Rukh Khan recently found himself in the headlines after a video clip went viral.

The clip showed the actor allegedly pushing an old man on the red carpet.

The user who posted the clip said:

“He pushed that old man!!! Shame on you, Shah Rukh Khan.”

However, others defended SRK.

One person said: “Yes. That guy is his old friend.”

Another added: “That’s one of his old friends. Now try spreading negativity.”

On the work front, Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki.