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Wajeeha Khan

@fanNO1

Voyager

Posted: 19 years ago

In an in-depth interview with TIMES NOW Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami , Shah Rukh Khan speaks frankly about stardom, being compared to Big B, his upcoming film 'Don', his favourite leading ladies, and a lot more.

AG: Why do people say that you are the most 'politically correct' star?
SRK: Someone told me I am the most politically incorrect person, from the day I entered the film industry. That is true. Somebody also told me that I stand for 'Kalyug.' He was doing an ad with me and I still shot the ad well. I am the brand ambassador for 'Kalyug. 'I explained to him that I am irreverent and flippant because I am very strongly ethical about certain things because I am also an entertainer. Hence, I don't lie but I entertain while I am speaking the truth. So, it may sound flippant but somewhere there is a strain of truth and I don't feel I am politically very correct.

AG: Is the anti-hero image good for you as the good-boy image would not work?
SRK: I am not a bad boy. I am not as exciting as that. I am a very boring, upper-middle class kind of a guy. But, it's been a long time since I have played a bad guy, if I don't consider my last character in KANK which was a sort of a grey character and a bit more cynical that the characters I normally play whilst I am surrounded by pretty girls. Don is also surrounded by pretty girls, but does not behave in the same manner with them.

AG: How much does Don mean to you?
SRK: When I am doing a film, I consider it to be the best film in the world. Once the film is through and releases and the first viewing by the audience is through, it no longer belongs to me and the next one becomes the more important one to me.

AG: Comparisons with the old Don are inevitable. Polls would be conducted where you would be compared with the Big B. You must have thought about that.
SRK: I am an old Don fan. Farhaan is an old Don fan. You ask us which is better, and we would say we like the old Don better. Hence, no need for you'll to conduct polls. And if you like our Don better, you will be surprised.

AG: So there is a mental comparison somewhere?
SRK: We made the film because we were so impressed by it. We liked it so much that we put in crores of rupees, a whole one year and made it an important film of our lives, knowing well that there is a chance people could compare it. There would be split-screens on all news channels with Helen aunty dancing on one side and Kareena on the other, with me one side and Amitji on the other.

AG: So will you like it?
SRK: No, we don't like it.

AG: At some point of time you should like being a direct comparison to Amitabh Bachchan as you are a huge Amitabh Bachchan fan?
SRK: I like Bachchansaab a lot. But, at some point of time there could be comparisons between me and a junior actor, which I won't like. Hence, I should not like this either. I don't think Amitji likes this.

AG: Why do you say he wouldn't like it?
SRK: He should not like it. I am nobody as compared to him. He has been working for years and he is someone we have grown up watching.

AG: Don't you think comparisons aren't bad, they are good?
SRK: Actually, comparisons are bad. If you ask me about acting, painting, singing, dancing; comparisons are bad. News channels, they are good, because mediocrity should be compared, not excellence.

AG: That's pompous.
SRK: Absolutely! I am pompous, politically incorrect!

AG: While delivering the dialogue 'Don ko pakdna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai,' you must have thought as to how would have Amitabh delivered it and you must have also said to yourself that I would it my way, the SRK way. However, somewhere down the line, there is some influence, isn't it?
SRK: Absolutely! The whole logic is the acceptance of the fact that 'Don' is completely influenced by 'Don.' Don is Don. While I am saying some of the most famous lines of our era, it is difficult to try and not say it like this. For me the most important thing about Don is that the people who have seen Don should not be let down by the film, and we really wish that Amitji thinks that it is OK. He mentioned to me in Toronto that he wanted to watch it and I hope he likes it.

AG: Are you insecure about the success of the film, because many people say that the greater the success, the greater is the position in life; the more absolute success matters to you?
SRK: Its true, but not only for this film. Every next film scares the hell out of me. When you have got used to a certain amount of being liked and loved and commercial success, it does matter if it is no more there in your life. However, there is nothing like 'absolute' success.

AG: Absolute, as in box-office success matters to you?
SRK: Sometimes you become so greedy when you are successful, that the extent of box-office success is a different definition. Out of the 50 films that I have done, I have only 15 hits and whenever I have failed, I have cried on the shoulders of my family and friends. I have been very sad and disturbed whenever my films have flopped.

AG: Would you still be sad if Don is not a success?
SRK: Oh, yes! I would be very, very sad, not only for Don, but for any of my film. I was very sad that Paheli didn't do too well, despite being aware of the fact that it could not be another DDLJ. However, you have to cut your losses and move on.

AG: Moving from film to film, you have your box-office targets. What are your larger targets 15 years from now? You must be having a game plan?
SRK: No, I don't have any game plan. You might think I am being pompous again, but I do not know what would be a bigger target than what I already am. I just like to keep doing my job. I do a film, move on to the next and then the next. That's what I have been doing since 16 years. As I said at the start of the interview, I haven't slept for three days and when you don't sleep, there is no scope left in your mind to think any further. I don't think. I just feel and do.

AG: On your lux ad, many people commented that it was a very bold move and many actors like Sanjay Dutt would not have done it. Your comments.
SRK: It was fun. I have done some strange things that are funny. I have a sense of humour. I can't comment on Sanjay Dutt. I am not sure if it would have been offered to him. You interviewed him, and when neither you nor I have asked him about this, lets not get him into this.

AG: But it was a bold and an unconventional thing to do?
SRK: If you ask me, it is not an unconventional thing. It was quite funny because normally you have women bathing in frothy rose petals. Also, it's alright if a man is exploited, laying down in a frothy bath-tub with rose petals and four ladies around him.

AG: The ad was not about SRK sitting in a bath-tub, but much more than that. It was about India's biggest male-star sitting in a bath-tub, not worried about his macho image?
SRK: I have never had a macho image. I don't think I am overtly very macho. If you are asking me was I bothered about how people would take it, I thought people would have a sense of humour similar to mine. It was just a fine thing, nothing deeper than that.

AG: An ad film-maker said that Shahrukh's fantastic for that because he is a man with a very strong female side. Was that a compliment or something to be worried about?
SRK: I don't have a female side. I have a female front, back, females all around me dude. I am sensitive and nice to woman. I have a different take on what macho is. If you are really macho, you don't need to show it.

AG: You have attributed fantastic compliments to probably every woman in the world. But the moot question is who have you been attracted to?
SRK: I don't know. I find all women beautiful. Beautiful in the sense of appreciating them and liking them. I find Kajol, Rani, Aishwarya, Juhi, Preity, Madhuri attractive.

AG: Are you careful who you are paired with when doing a film?
SRK : No, I never ask who I am paired with while doing a film.

AG: Who is your personal - all time favourite from all the heroines?
SRK: It is difficult to answer and a bit unfair to rank them. I hate rankings. However, I liked Mumtaaz, Saira Bano amd also Madhubala. In our times, Sridevi is very beautiful and a brilliant actor. Madhuri, Juhi and Kajol are my all time favourites to work with. I am very close to these three. But, I won't be able to pick any one.

AG: There is a certain contradiction about what you say. In one interview, you said that you like to spend time with your family and in another you said you did not want to have a normal life.
SRK : Many people ask me if I miss eating dahi-puri on Chowpatty or walking down a road like a normal man. My answer is no. Simply because, I never ate it before and I like to fly in my private jet. I am honest. I would miss being a star too much if I was a normal guy.

AG: A star pushes himself more than the ordinary people. Do you worry about slowing down? Do you want to slow down and take it a little easy?
SRK: No, I want to burn out. I want to go with a bang. I do not want to go out like the last flicker of the candle. I want to work till I run myself completely out of steam. I may be getting slower, but its part and parcel of what I have done. I still keep pushing myself. I do difficult stunts even now. I push myself day and night without sleep. This is not to self inflict pain, but I just like it like that. A lot has been given to me. I have very limited time of stardom. I have to a put in a lot of effort to say thanks to a lot of people.

AG: Do you feel like the number one lead star in the country?
SRK : No, I do not feel so.

AG: You said you want to burn-out, burn-out for what?
SRK: I already have it. I have to pay for it. I have to feel I deserve it. I don't think I have done enough, I could work harder. Hence, I may not feel like the number one star of the country but I am one, because I think like that.