Nikkhil Advani Shows Richard Gere SRK’s Pretty Woman Magic

At the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival, Nikkhil Advani gave Richard Gere a small but memorable Bollywood treat: the Pretty Woman-inspired sequence from Kal Ho Naa Ho, Advani’s 2003 directorial debut.

A fanboy moment in the hills

Advani shared the exchange on Instagram with the words ‘Huge huge fan boy moment. Showed @richardgere #PrettyWoman from #KalHoNaaHo (wait for his reaction).’ He added that meeting Gere and showing him the clip was the ‘icing on the cake.’ The post tagged Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Karan Johar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Javed Akhtar, Farah Khan, and the official account of the late Roy Orbison.

The festival is being held in McLeod Ganj from October 29 to November 1, 2026. Gere is on the festival’s board of advisors, while Advani is taking part in a 90-minute conversation with filmmaker Sudhir Mishra. The two directors go back to 1996, when Advani began as a writer on Mishra’s Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.

Two Pretty Women, thirteen years apart

The connection here is direct. Gere led the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman as Edward Lewis, the businessman who falls for Julia Roberts’ Vivian Ward. The film turned Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman into an even bigger evergreen. In 2003, Kal Ho Naa Ho gave the song a Hindi recreation: Shah Rukh Khan’s Aman dances atop a taxi to win over his neighbour Naina, played by Preity Zinta.

Karan Johar, who wrote the film, secured the rights to Orbison’s original. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composed the Hindi adaptation, with Ravi ‘Rags’ Khote on vocals. The result kept the spirit of the original but added a distinctly Bollywood playfulness and SRK’s star energy.

• 1990: Richard Gere headlines Pretty Woman; Oh, Pretty Woman becomes closely tied to the film.
• 2003: Kal Ho Naa Ho reimagines the song as a taxi-top SRK moment.
• 2026: The Dharamshala festival brings the two eras together through Gere and Advani.

Why this moment matters

For Hindi film fans, the clip is more than a viral exchange. It is a neat reminder of how Kal Ho Naa Ho made a global pop hit feel native, through official rights, a fresh composition and choreography built for Shah Rukh’s charm. Watching the original Pretty Woman star react to that adaptation closes a cultural loop that began in 1990 and found its Bollywood voice in 2003.

The film itself remains a reference point: Naina’s New York life, Aman’s cheerful intervention, Rohit’s steady presence and the film’s bittersweet end have kept it alive in re-runs, playlists and now festival conversations.

Source: India Today