Vasan Bala calls Salman Khan-Shah Rukh Khan scene from Pathaan as ‘greatest meta moment’: Mere Karan Arjun aagaye!

Vasan Bala, who watched Pathaan in theatres on Wednesday, called the scene between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in the film as one of the greatest meta moments in the cinema hall. The director was taken back to the 1995 film Karan Arjun directed by Rakesh Roshan, which featured the two actors as brothers. Coincidentally, Rakesh also happened to watch the film in the same theatre as Vasan. (Also read: Pathaan box office day 1 collection: Shah Rukh Khan’s film is biggest Bollywood opener ever, collects ₹53 crore)

Taking to Instagram, the excited filmmaker put up an image stating, “SK says ‘Bhaag Pathaan Bhaag’ And this happens as Rakesh Roshan is in the cinema hall! Come On!” His caption read, “One of the greatest Meta Moments in the Cinema Hall for me. Ever!” In Karan Arjun, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh play brothers who try to avenge their father’s death, but are murdered. Years later, they are reincarnated and meet again. It is the ‘Bhaag Arjun Bhaag’ dialogue that reunites them across lives.

Vasan’s Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota actor Abhimanyu Dassani wrote, “Feels” on his post, while actor Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor shared a clapping hands emoji. One Instagram user commented, “(laughing face with tears emoji) you live in real life cinema.” Another agreed with the filmmaker, “Yes yes. That scene was a full Karan Arjun vibe.” Yet another shared, “Woahh, you are truly the king and lover of meta film references (clapping hands emojis).”

The filmmaker, who assisted director Anurag Kashyap on Dev D (2009) and Bombay Velvet (2015), made his directorial debut with the quirky comedy Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota starring Abhimanyu, Radhika Madan, and Gulshan Devaiah. His last film was the critically acclaimed Netflix feature Monica O My Darling starring Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte and Sikandar Kher.

Pathaan, also starring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, opened in theatres on January 25 to full houses across the country. The Siddharth Anand film has made ₹57 crore on opening day and its strong word of mouth indicates that the action film will continue to do well at the box office on this extended holiday five-day weekend for Republic Day.