mid-day exclusive: SRK reveals his favourite filmi places in Mumbai

Shah Rukh Khan at his home, Mannat. File Pic

In part three of our series, Shah Rukh Khan picks his favourite tourist destinations of the city.

Must-visit Mumbai destinations
It's clichéd, but the Gateway of India is stunning. It's positioned in sync with the Taj Mahal Hotel. The stories and myths related to the two monuments make them even more interesting. I love old cinema houses such as Metro and Maratha Mandir. More than the screens, their offices are very old-fashioned - oak panelled, huge tables, thick curtains and big carpets, all in reds and browns. The multiplexes are very cool but if a movie theatre is retained with its opera house-like feel, it looks nice.

The Gateway and Taj are SRK's eternal Mumbai favourites. Pic/Rane Ashish

Daddy's day out
I would like to take my kids to the beaches. I feel that I have bereft them of a beach walk. As for Abram, I can take him anywhere; he still thinks he is in LA! I can take him to Hamley's and say it's Disney [laughs].

Bandra's best-kept secret
Mannat! I have spent a lot of time living next to it when it functioned as a studio. The climax scene of Sunny Deol's Narsimha was shot there; Govinda and David Dhawan's Shola aur Shabnam was also filmed there. The first time I visited it, Amrita Singh (she's a friend) was shooting a mujra scene with Mr Anupam Kher. It was quite something! Mannat always looked like a mujra set or a villain's den to me after that. It was a convenient and popular shooting spot. When I bought it, I had a lot of actors complaining, "Arey! Location khatam ho gaya; now we will have to go far to shoot."

SRK loves the old world charm of single screen cinemas. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Khan, the Mumbai guide to Hollywood stars?
Left to myself, I would get lost! But I know the ways to all the studios in Mumbai, I am like the Google maps to studios. I would take them to Film City, Filmalaya, Filmistan, Yashraj, even Mukesh Mills. There's a whole section in Mehboob Studios that has been occupied by some of the greatest filmmakers and directors.

They have a really nice make-up room but everyone gets ready in their make-up vans now. The last time we shot there was for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I have heard stories about Filmcity because it's in a jungle but I have never even seen a rat there [laughs]. YRF was a cricket ground for us before it was a studio. We would have huge matches there on Sundays with Adi [Aditya Chopra], Sikander [Kher], Abhishek [Bachchan] and Hrithik [Roshan].

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