Bollywood fantasies are achievable: SRK

In a magazine interview recently, Shah Rukh, while dwelling on Hindi films, said, "Our fantasies are smaller. The fantasies of Indians are still achievable. Our economy, our country and our lifestyles haven't reached a level where we need to go out to space for fantasy. One of the simple fantasies of Indians is that we can sing and dance when we feel like it. Hindi films without songs — that's like having American films without special effects. "Hollywood films don't have songs and dances in them but you have King Kong taking over New York and that, I think, is an amazing fantasy. You have the President of the United States saving the world from a meteorite," he added.

Defending the songs and dances in Hindi films, Shah Rukh Khan said, "There has to be escapism. You can't tell the audience about the drudgery of everyday life, you need to tell them about fantastic things." Agreeing that Bollywood films are increasingly becoming globalised, Shah Rukh, however, said, "In America we have only just begun to make inroads. We have to make our films shorter. I think the brevity of the expression will have to be learned from the West."

He said there was a growing global market for the 900 films being made in India every year. Shah Rukh said, "It's easy to consume 900 films a year in India. And now with the rest of the world opening up, I think 900 films is good."

Speaking about his film Paheli's nomination for the best foreign film in the Oscars, he says, "It's about women and emancipation. For a change, a film chosen for the Oscars does not show the darkness and morbidity of the country. It shows a lot of exuberance, colour and happiness." Shah Rukh said in the interview that, at 40, he didn't think that age was catching up with him, except "when my knees are in pain, or when I run out of breath from going upstairs"