Shah Rukh Khan hosted Ed Sheeran for paddle and dinner, featured in Sapphire video minutes before heading out for a wedding

British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s latest music video Sapphire has been making all the right noises. The peppy track has not only become a part of many playlists but the music video, shot extensively in India, has been loved by the singer’s Indian fans as it features two Indian stars- Shah Rukh Khan and Arijit Singh.

Sheeran, in a video that breaks down the visual journey of Sapphire, calls Shah Rukh Khan as “the 1st or 2nd most famous person in the world”. The new behind-the-scenes video about his latest single has Sheeran talking of all the iconic places he shot in, including a small portion in SRK’s residence in Mumbai- minutes before the actor left for a wedding party.

Ed Sheeran praises SRK

Ed, in the ‘Sapphire’ behind-the-scenes video, said, "That's Shah Rukh. I don't know if I even need to give context on who Shah Rukh Khan is. He is probably like the 1st or 2nd most famous person in the world.”

Sheeran then revealed that how SRK invited him home for a game of paddle and dinner. “He invited me around his house to play paddle so we played that for three hours. Then he pitched me an idea like do it whenever and to be honest I said 'here, tomorrow'. So you wanna get dinner again tomorrow. By the time I'd done dinner, I'd gone, sung this whole tune in Hindi, which took a while to do. Then we came back, had dinner, played it to him, and after that I asked, 'could you just cameo in the video?'"

The video also shows filmmaker Sidharth Anand informing Sheeran about SRK waiting for him at home as the singer was seen recording a portion of the song. Anand then reminds Sheeran to head out to meet the superstar as he has to leave for a wedding invitation.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video here:

Ed on filming in India

Sheeran, who also collaborated with Indian singer Arijit Singh for the track, described his experience filming in India as deeply meaningful. “I felt like every part of this video there was like a pilgrimage to get each shot. The whole country has such a rich tapestry of culture.”

Sheeran had in an earlier post on Instagram, praised ‘pal’ Arijit Singh and how he built core memories with his Dad while travelling to Singh’s hometown in West Bengal.

In the new BTS video, Sheeran again spoke about travelling with his dad. “I was with my dad, and we went on this boat ride, and we sailed down. It's like one of the most memorable days I have had with my dad. It's a real core memory of us travelling to India together to go and get the final jigsaw piece of the song,” he said.

Reflecting on the time they spent together, Sheeran added, “My dad is getting to a point in his life where he has sort of realised that these moments are like gold. He just wanted one-on-one father-son time. He also got to see what I do between the shows and sort of what it takes to make a music video. It was really nice for him to see that.”

Sheeran shot the Sapphire music video in all corners of India. From Delhi to Hyderabad to Mumbai to Shillong and Jiaganj- Sheeran and his team travelled to corners of the country to make the video.