Long before Shah Rukh Khan became one of the biggest stars in Indian cinema, the actor was a young man trying to make a place for himself in the industry. During that phase of his life, he visited Ajmer Sharif with his ailing mother to offer prayers. Years later, Shah Rukh recalled an unusual incident from that visit involving a fakir and Rs 5,000.

During the promotions of Happy New Year in 2014, Shah Rukh opened up about the visit and recalled how his mother had given him Rs 5,000 to keep safely while they carried a chadar to the shrine.

When Shah Rukh lost Rs 5000

“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,” he said.

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

“I wondered how he knew. He told me, ‘You have come here; you will not leave empty-handed. You have lost Rs 5,000, but you will earn Rs 500 crore,’” Shah Rukh recalled.

Shah Rukh admitted that he did not always believe in such things, but said 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.

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The actor said the incident was not really about the money he went on to make.

“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.

The Ajmer Sharif Dargah is the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and is one of India’s most prominent pilgrimage sites. Devotees from across religions 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.

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Shah Rukh Khan on her mother’s final moments

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, the actor recalled how he had wanted 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 told Simi.

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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.

“I was shooting in Goa, and she had diabetes. When I came back from Goa, she had hurt her foot, and it kept spreading. When she was admitted to the hospital, she contracted septicaemia. I wasn’t prepared, but I had done the same thing for my father. I was in the hospital with him, and slowly he went away,” he said.

Shah Rukh also recalled how his mother’s illness led him to pray for the first time in his life. When she was in the ICU 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 getting a breathing attack, I went down to the parking lot of a hospital and for the first time, I prayed. I was told to pray 6000 times, and that she won’t have pain,” he said.

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He continued, “I did, and the doctor told me that she was going. I have a belief that you die when you are satisfied with life. So I went down and started giving her worries, I said I won’t be happy, and told her that I’ll be a bad person, mistreat her daughter. But she had a beautiful look in her eyes, which said, let me go, I need to rest, and she went.”