Recently MTV Iggy had unprecedented access to Shah Rukh Khan, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. His latest film, My Name Is Khan, will hit movie theaters on Feb 12 and is expected to dominate the global box office. On Feb 1, MTV Iggy taped an unusual and provocative conversation between SRK, actress Kajol Devgan and cab driver Erhan Tuncel in a taxi driving through New York, past all its famous hot spots. Stay tuned for the full video conversation, photo slideshows and more. For now, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the production!
If you’ve ever watched a Bollywood film, you know the name Shah Rukh Khan. He’s acted in 72 films, Madam Tussaud’s unveiled his wax replica, a crater on the moon is named after him, and when he joined twitter on January 3, not only was this news, he had over 100,000 people following him in less than a month. In case you didn’t know by now, SRK is huuuge.
Speaking of twitter, guess what he tweeted last night? This!:
too a cab ride with mtv & did a 2 hr interview all over nyc lost track of time so just saying love u all.my name is khan & i am very happy
What was that about, you ask? Well, let me tell you! SRK is in New York City to promote his new film, My Name Is Khan. After a full day ringing the bell at the NY stock exchange, giving press conferences, being interviewed, etc…he capped off the night with an MTV Iggy production!
MTV Iggy taped a really fun interview with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Devgan (his leading lady in MNIK and onscreen partner in 5 previous films) in the back of a New York City taxi cab last night. The footage is being edited and post-produced right now, but I’ve got all the behind-the-scenes stuff right here!
Why a taxi cab, you ask? Because…
these yellow taxis are iconic...
...and everywhere in NY.
We shot the interview in a specially rigged NY taxi. This wasn’t some fake set, by the way. This was in a real NY cab that drove Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol around New York.
This is Erhan Tuncel, in the driver’s seat. He is a real driver and comes with the taxi — we didn’t cast him.
He’s originally from Turkey and is such a seen-it-all New Yorker, he didn’t blink when we told him who his passengers would be.
Erhan the driver and a wide cam trained on the backseat
He has personalized his cab, as all New York taxi drivers do. If you’re wondering about that motto hanging over his rearview mirror…
It reads:
“God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind, I will never die.”
Cute, right? Erhan’s pretty awesome. That’s also a 9/11 remembrance button on the mirror which says “never forget”.
Erhan's personal touches in the cab
We even asked Erhan to ask SRK and Kajol a few questions. Here, he’s studying his lines…
Erhan reading his lines...who is that creepy stranger approaching him?
Hey! It's MTV Iggy Exec. Producer Lem Lopez!
Lem was coming over to finalize camera & lighting. He'll be sitting in the front passenger seat, asking SRK & Kajol questions as they tour NY.
This is what Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol would see when they sat in the cab. Kajol on the left, Shah Rukh Khan on the right.
The cab even has one of those annoying TV screens installed in all NY cabs. The screens automatically turn on when the cab starts and are incredibly irritating. Like I said, real cab. We're going for authenticity here :)
Lem asked me to sit in Shah Rukh Khan's seat so he could double check the lighting. Sudden weird thought -- SRK would be sitting right here after me!
Check out the insane camera and lighting set up:
Kino light for driver (Erhan will be on camera!) and camera monitors in that tangle of wires and cable
Another shot of the camera monitors nestled between front passenger seats
Kino lights behind the front seats to light up SRK + Kajol. ISO cam to the right, wide cam for the 2-shot in the middle.
Inside this little yellow cab, we installed 4 lipstick cameras and 3 kino lights. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol wore mics to pick up their voices, but for best sound quality we needed an audio guy to monitor the sound in real time and mix it.
NY can be full of loudly honking horns, construction work and other intrusive noises and the taxi would be zipping around the city from Times Square to Ground Zero, then the Lower East Side and Chinatown. We couldn’t take chances with this.
But with the Erhan in the driver’s seat, Lem in the front passanger seat, and SRK and Kajol in both back seats…all seats were taken.
Time to improvise!
Keith, the audio guy, in a quiet moment before the cab takes off.
Yes, that’s our audio guy Keith in the trunk of the cab. I skipped ahead to show you this because we’ve got lots more behind the scenes photos and stories of SRK + Kajol in makeup, getting briefed on the production, the chaos as they stepped outside and immediately drew a horde of fans who couldn’t believe these superstars suddenly appeared on a Times Square sidewalk.
You can see Kajol behind him to the left and SRK to the right. We shut Keith in the trunk to monitor and mix sound during the interview. Was his hard work and dedication worth it? For SRK & Kajol? Hell yes!
Can’t get enough SRK + Kajol? We understand. Click here for MORE MORE MORE!
