Actor Markand Soni is making a comeback with Brahmastra after a gap of over 12 years. As a child actor, he starred in various TV commercials as well as some popular shows. One of them was Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. Markand fondly remembers his time on the show with Bollywood’s Badshah. He recently recalled an incident where he had asked Shah Rukh to stop smoking.
The now 25-year-old actor was a child back then, during the time of the show. “One day backstage I saw him smoking. So I walked up to him and asked ‘Sir, smoking? It is not good,” he remembers giving the health advice to Shah Rukh Khan.
Markand went on to say that he was a naive and innocent child and would not even dare to say this to someone now. “Back then I walked up to him, very innocently, and I was like ‘Sir you shouldn’t do it. Sir aapko pata hai, isse cancer hota hai [Sir, do you know that it causes cancer?]’,” he recalled.
The innocence of the cute child Markand made King Khan say something which melted his heart. Shah Rukh listened to the child and turned around to give the cigarette bud that he was smoking to his assistant. He then said, “Okay, I will not smoke from now on.” Markand found this to be the sweetest gesture one could do.
Shah Rukh kept his promise. The Brahmastra actor recollects that Shah Rukh would hide the cigarette in his hand whenever he would see the kid coming up to him. Or, he would give the cigarette to someone else before Markand could see.
Although, Markand remembers that he would notice how Shah Rukh was fooling him and would often say ‘sir is lying’, Well, looking back at it now, he believes it to be very thoughtful of King Khan.
Besides this popular quiz show with Shah Rukh, Markand has also been a part of CID episodes, Sunaina and Bhoot and Friends. His upcoming project Brahmāstra will hit the big screen on September 9. The movie features Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt in lead roles.
