Twenty-five years after Asoka released, its Jaipur schedule is being remembered for an off-camera routine rather than its battle scenes: a week-long breakfast invitation from Shah Rukh Khan to a corporate executive he had never met. As the period drama, co-starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, marked its 25th anniversary on October 26, Rajesh Naik—now 66—described the experience for Bollywood Hungama.
Naik was in his early 40s and deputed by the board of Excel Industries Ltd to take charge of its Jaipur operations. He was alone at first; his wife and son had not yet joined him. His friend, the late Ravi Indulkar, was Shah Rukh Khan’s personal makeup man and called him at 8:45 one morning to say the Asoka unit was in the city and that ‘Sahab’ was present.
A breakfast call, then a week of invitations
Naik accepted the first invitation and found Shah Rukh Khan more gracious than he expected. As Naik remembered it, the actor seemed pleased that the invitation had been accepted. After the meal, Shah Rukh Khan invited him back for the remaining seven days, asking in Hindi, ‘Aap roz hamare saath breakfast karne aayenge kya?’
Naik hesitated because he had to be at work early. Shah Rukh Khan reportedly answered, ‘Aapse ho sakta hai, toh hi aaiye. But I insist that you should join us.’ Naik went all seven days. The shoot was located 22 km outside Jaipur. He said he could not recall whether Kareena Kapoor Khan was at the breakfast table, but child actor Sooraj Balaji was present.
The office visit and the 24% lift
The connection did not stop with breakfast. Shah Rukh Khan asked Naik whether his office colleagues would like to see the shoot. Naik took the offer to his team, who chose to go on a Saturday. A minibus carried 17 employees to the set, where a battle sequence was being filmed.
Naik said the actor treated the group like VIPs, arranged food, and a couple of team members even met him in his vanity van. The result was measurable.
- Seven consecutive breakfasts with a stranger in Jaipur.
- 17 Excel Industries employees invited to the Asoka set.
- A nearly 24% rise in sales that year, credited to the visit.
Naik said his team returned so charged that efficiency improved and sales increased by almost 24% that year. He gave the credit to Shah Rukh Khan and Ravi Indulkar.
The quieter act behind the memory
Naik also recalled a photograph: he asked Shah Rukh Khan to place a hand on his shoulder, and the actor laughed and agreed. Later, Indulkar told him a story from the same schedule. When an assistant’s mother died, Shah Rukh Khan flew to Mumbai, paid his respects, gave the assistant some money and returned to Jaipur immediately. Indulkar said no one in the unit knew of the visit.
Why this Asoka memory still matters
For readers who follow Hindi cinema closely, the story doubles as a piece of film history and a small case study. Star goodwill is often discussed vaguely; here it is attached to a number: a common man’s office logged a near-24% sales lift after seven days of ordinary hospitality and one set visit. Twenty-five years on, the Asoka anecdote is less about the film’s box office and more about why Shah Rukh Khan’s personal impact continues to be treated as a business event.
Source: Bollywood Hungama
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