Quiz any Bollywood buff and each one of them would have a crazy story or two to narrate about the fascination with celebrities. Well, Kartik Aaryan is no different. He may have introduced himself to the audiences with Pyaar Ka Punchnama [2011] nine years back and turned out to be a bonafide star in the years to follow. However, deep within, he has stayed on to be ‘Gwalior ke doctor saab ka ladka‘ who pursued an engineering degree in biotechnology back in time.

No wonder, he too was smitten by everything related to Bollywood and that was visible even till four years before he made his big screen debut. The story goes back to 2007 when he saw Chak De! India. Just like every Shah Rukh Khan fan, he too was super amazed with what the superstar brought on screen. However, a newcomer actor who benefitted the most amongst all the girls who enacted the part of a hockey player was Sagarika Ghatge. As Preeti Sabharwal, she turned out to be a household name and it was no different with Kartik Aaryan either.

The year was 2008 and while one year had passed by since the release of Chak De! India, as a 17 year old, Kartik managed to spot Sagarika amongst thousands of marathon runners in Mumbai. It was pretty much the case of ‘come fire or flood’ as the lanky teenager jumped barricades and shrugged his way to not just catch a glimpse of Sagarika but even get a picture clicked with her. The pretty woman, sans any starry airs, complied as well and didn’t mind sharing a frame with Kartik.

Well, if that wasn’t enough for Kartik, he even went ahead and made a simple request to Sagarika, “Shah Rukh Khan ko mera Hi bolna“, something that he has confessed to doing so on his Instagram post.

12 years down the line, while Kartik has managed to march his way up the ladder to find an audience with Shah Rukh Khan, the incident also sends a reminder to one and all. That is that if an individual is indeed determined and is willing to put in all the hard work, then with luck on side one can indeed find a way right up there at the top.