Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone Plan King Song Shoot in Mumbai From October 26

A week of filming planned before the Christmas release

Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone are expected to begin filming a major song for King in Mumbai on October 26, 2026, with choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant overseeing a schedule lasting about a week. The number is expected to bring together the action thriller's ensemble cast, giving the production another large sequence ahead of its planned December 24 cinema release.

Preparations are reportedly underway for the Mumbai shoot. Earlier production updates placed the proposed sequence in South Africa, while the latest accounts say the filmmakers have chosen Mumbai. Khan and Padukone have already filmed together in Cape Town, including a reported romantic dance scene on a beach.

The October schedule would also mark Padukone's reported return to filming after the birth of her second daughter, Devi Padukone Singh, on September 19. King would be her sixth film alongside Khan, continuing a screen partnership that began with her Hindi film debut in Om Shanti Om in 2007.

Directed and co-written by Siddharth Anand, King is being produced by Gauri Khan, Siddharth Anand and Mamta Anand through Red Chillies Entertainment and Marflix Pictures. Its reported budget is about Rs. 450 crore, and the production is moving toward a Christmas opening with filming and promotional preparations both attracting attention.

What is planned for the Mumbai song?

Merchant is expected to choreograph a number featuring much of King's cast, rather than a sequence focused only on its two established stars. Some accounts describe the entire ensemble taking part, including performers playing opposing sides in the story. The actors appearing in the finished number and its place in the narrative have not been announced.

The reported schedule runs for roughly seven days from October 26. Preparations are described as extensive, although no details have been released about the set, the number of dancers or the scale of the staging.

The project is described as Merchant's eighth collaboration with Khan. Her previous work with him includes Jawan, one of the five films in which Khan and Padukone have already appeared together. A choreographer plans the movement seen on screen, coordinating performers and dance steps with the camera and the music.

The song's title and composer remain unannounced. Its musical identity is therefore still being kept out of the public campaign, even as the proposed filming date and the involvement of the principal stars have become widely reported.

How Cape Town fits into the production

Cape Town has already hosted filming for King. Padukone reportedly completed a schedule there with Khan before returning to Mumbai, where she was photographed at the airport on a Wednesday. She had travelled to South Africa with her husband, actor Ranveer Singh.

During that schedule, Khan and Padukone reportedly filmed a romantic dance on a beach at sunset. Khan was also seen working on scenes in Cape Town's streets and in a car, as well as at another coastal location.

Earlier expectations had centred on an intense climax sequence in South Africa, but descriptions of the visible filming focused on music and dance. The production has therefore used Cape Town for several kinds of material, with both joint scenes and scenes featuring Khan alone.

The location of the forthcoming ensemble number has been described differently: the latest updates put its October 26 start in Mumbai, while an earlier account placed it in an unnamed South African city. The completed Cape Town schedule and the proposed Mumbai shoot belong to different stages of the production updates, whose exact relationship has not been explained by the filmmakers.

Padukone's reported return after childbirth

Padukone and Singh welcomed their second daughter on September 19, 2026. On October 20, they reportedly announced her name, Devi Padukone Singh, alongside a family photograph featuring both their daughters.

Their elder daughter, Dua, was born on September 8, 2024. The couple married at Lake Como in Italy in November 2018.

Padukone's expected October 26 appearance on set has been described as a return 36 days after childbirth, although the stated dates are 37 days apart. The practical development is that the planned song schedule would bring her back to filming a little over five weeks after Devi's birth.

No detailed account of Padukone's individual shooting days or working arrangements has been announced. The reported week refers to the song's production schedule, with her participation expected alongside Khan and other cast members.

A partnership stretching back to 2007

Khan and Padukone first appeared together in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om in 2007, the film that introduced Padukone to Hindi cinema. King would extend that association across nearly two decades.

Their subsequent collaborations were Chennai Express in 2013, Happy New Year in 2014, and Pathaan and Jawan in 2023. King would be their sixth film together, bringing a familiar pairing into another action production.

Anand also directed Pathaan, giving King a returning combination behind the camera as well as in front of it. The song would reunite him with two performers whose previous collaboration under his direction reached audiences in India and abroad.

The financial benchmarks are substantial. Pathaan earned a reported Rs. 1,050.30 crore worldwide, while Jawan collected Rs. 1,148.32 crore, a combined Rs. 2,198.62 crore. Those totals help explain the attention surrounding the reunion, alongside the appeal of seeing the actors perform together again.

An ensemble built around several reunions

King's cast includes Suhana Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Rani Mukerji, Jaideep Ahlawat, Arshad Warsi and Raghav Juyal, alongside Khan and Padukone. Abhay Verma is also associated with the project.

Suhana's involvement gives the film a separate attraction: it is her first film with her father, Shah Rukh Khan. After beginning her acting career in The Archies, released on Netflix in 2023, she is preparing for her first film released in cinemas.

The father and daughter pairing was a central part of the anticipation surrounding King's December 24 release plans. Their characters' relationship has been kept under wraps, leaving the real family connection as one of the production's most visible talking points.

An ensemble song could place several of these performers in the same sequence, rather than introducing them only through individual scenes. Its role in the story will depend on how Anand stages it and where it appears in the finished film.

Music rumours and a request from the director

Kareena Kapoor Khan has also been linked to King through reports of a special appearance. Some accounts describe a dance sequence with Khan set to Daddy Cool and planned for South Africa. Her involvement and the proposed song have not been officially confirmed.

A different rumour connected the Cape Town dance filming to an Ed Sheeran track. Neither that suggestion nor the Daddy Cool reports identify the still unannounced Mumbai ensemble song, whose title and composer remain undisclosed.

Siddharth Anand, King's director, responded to the circulation of photographs and videos from the South African sets by asking fans to stop sharing the material. In a social media message, he wrote:

REQUEST TO ALL THE FANS. Please do not post or circulate any leaked multimedia from the sets of KING. The team is working around the clock to ensure the best cinematic experience for everyone. Let us wait for the surprise on the big screen and for the assets to be revealed as the team of King originally intended to. Thank you for your love, support and cooperation. Shah Rukh Khan in & as KING.

Anand's message set out the production's preference for introducing the film through its own promotional releases. Meanwhile, the leaked footage has drawn attention to the songs even before the filmmakers have formally presented their music.

The budget and the calendar

King is reportedly being made for about Rs. 450 crore, equivalent to Rs. 4.5 billion. A crore means 10 million. No spending breakdown has been published for the cast, action sequences, locations, music or visual effects.

The October 26 song schedule would begin 59 days before the planned December 24 release. A shoot lasting about a week would take filming into early November, close to another date already associated with the film's promotion.

A November 2 teaser plan has been reported for Khan's 61st birthday. That proposed launch would come 52 days before the cinema opening. The filmmakers have not formally announced the teaser date.

The Christmas window is expected to be crowded, with Jumanji, Avengers: Doomsday and Dune 3 among the major Hollywood titles mentioned as competition during the period. King is also being positioned as Khan's first theatrical release since Dunki in 2023, adding to interest in his return.

The dates to follow

King's immediate production story centres on the expected Mumbai song shoot, while its broader calendar connects Padukone's return, a possible birthday preview and the Christmas release.

• September 19, 2026: Padukone and Singh reportedly welcomed their second daughter, Devi.
• October 20, 2026: The couple reportedly announced Devi Padukone Singh's name.
• October 26, 2026: Khan and Padukone are expected to start the ensemble song in Mumbai, with filming planned for about a week.
• November 2, 2026: A teaser is reportedly being prepared for Khan's birthday, pending an official announcement.
• December 24, 2026: King is scheduled to open in cinemas.

The next concrete development will be whether the Mumbai schedule begins as planned. An official music announcement would also give audiences the title, composer and confirmed participants for a sequence currently attracting attention through its scale and its returning stars.

Key Points

• Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone are reportedly scheduled to begin a major King song in Mumbai on October 26.
• Vaibhavi Merchant is expected to choreograph the ensemble number over about a week.
• The actors have already filmed together in Cape Town, including a reported beach dance scene.
• The Mumbai schedule would mark Padukone's reported return after the September 19 birth of her second daughter.
• King would be Khan and Padukone's sixth film together and Khan's first film with daughter Suhana.
• The action thriller has a reported budget of Rs. 450 crore and a planned December 24, 2026 release.
• The ensemble song's title and composer, along with Kareena Kapoor Khan's rumoured appearance, await official confirmation.