Shah Rukh’s old Ajmer Sharif story resurfaces: Rs 5,000 loss, Rs 500 crore prediction

Long before Shah Rukh Khan became one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, he visited Ajmer Sharif with his ailing mother to offer prayers. During the visit, he recalled losing Rs 5,000 and receiving an unexpected prediction from a fakir.

Shah Rukh spoke about the incident during the 2014 promotions of Happy New Year, recalling how his mother had given him Rs 5,000 to keep safe while they carried a chadar to the shrine.

“My mother was very unwell, so I went with her to Ajmer Sharif to pray for her. We were carrying a chadar to offer at the shrine and make a wish. My mother had given me some money to keep safely. It was Rs 5,000,” Shah Rukh recalled.

He later realised that the money was missing and began looking for it. A fakir at the dargah asked him whether he had lost something. When Shah Rukh said yes, the fakir asked if it was Rs 5,000.

The actor recalled the fakir telling him that he had come to the shrine and would not leave empty-handed. According to Shah Rukh, the man said he had lost Rs 5,000 but would one day earn Rs 500 crore.

Shah Rukh said he did not always believe in such predictions, but the incident stayed with him.

“Sometimes I don’t believe in such things. We are all educated and think that these things cannot really happen. But this happened to me. He was right. I have the blessings of Ajmer Sharif upon me,” he said.

The actor later stressed that the incident was not really about the money he eventually earned.

“It isn’t about the money. I have earned a lot of fame and many good things in life. We had gone there seeking my mother’s prayers. She is no longer with me, but her blessings and the blessings of Ajmer Sharif are still upon me,” he said.

Ajmer Sharif Dargah is the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and is among India’s prominent pilgrimage sites.

People from different faiths visit the shrine to offer prayers and chadars and seek blessings.

Shah Rukh has visited the shrine several times over the years, including ahead of some of his film releases.

Shah Rukh’s mother, Lateef Fatima Khan, died in 1991, shortly before his Bollywood career took off with Deewana in 1992. The actor has spoken about his mother and her death on several occasions.

In a conversation with Simi Garewal, Shah Rukh recalled wanting his mother to see the success he eventually achieved.

“I want my mother to see me, 70 mms, a lot bigger than what I am,” he said.

Recalling her death, Shah Rukh said he was unprepared to lose her, despite having gone through a similar experience when his father died of cancer.

He said his mother had diabetes and developed complications after injuring her foot. After she was admitted to hospital, she contracted septicaemia.

Shah Rukh also recalled how his mother’s illness led him to pray for the first time in his life. While she was in intensive care and struggling to breathe, he went to the hospital parking lot and prayed for her.

“I was not prepared for her to die. I never used to pray, but when she was in the ICU and she was having a breathing attack, I went down to the parking lot of a hospital and for the first time, I prayed,” he recalled.