Vishal Punjabi, aka the Wedding Filmer, recalled that Shah Rukh Khan worked tirelessly when he was deported from India.

Vishal Punjabi, aka The Wedding Filmer, worked with Shah Rukh Khan at Red Chillies Entertainment.

Vishal Punjabi, better known as The Wedding Filmer, spoke about his decade-long experience working with Shah Rukh Khan before he launched his business. Vishal said that he was ready to make a movie with Shah Rukh and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles, when he was deported from India for working on a tourist visa. He said that Shah Rukh tried to pull some strings, but nothing worked. In fact, Shah Rukh came under the government’s scrutiny because of him.

Appearing on the Brown Game Strong YouTube channel, Vishal recalled that he reached out to Shah Rukh for a separate job because he was such a big fan, but was eventually roped in to work at the actor’s Red Chillies Entertainment banner. “He’s an amazing person, a great mentor. I did really well under his shadow. For 10 years, I learned everything that I could,” he said.

Vishal continued, “Then, in 2007, I was about to make a big Bollywood film. I had written the script with a friend of mine called Zoya Akhtar. She’s a big director now, but at the time, she was struggling to make her first film… Priyanka had said yes to my film, Shah Rukh had said yes to my film. Me and Reema and Zoya were kicked about it. And then I got deported from India because I didn’t have an OCI. I had a tourist visa, and I was technically not allowed to work on a tourist visa. It was very stupid of me, because I thought it’s India, they’d fix it.”

Vishal said that he suffered immensely, but so did Shah Rukh. “I got deported, and there was nothing anybody could do. The fact that I worked with Shah Rukh made my case worse because he was under scrutiny. For some reason, governments aren’t very kind to him, I think it has to do with his religion. It was heartbreaking for him as well because I was in charge of a lot of big projects for him. He tried everything that he could to see me come back… I went through a very hard time, but he worked tirelessly to get me back…”

Vishal said that after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the ‘government changed overnight’, and people who were kinder to Shah Rukh came to power. Based on some very strong recommendations from powerful people, Vishal’s deportation was revoked, and he was allowed to work in India again.