Posted:
'The most watchable star finds himself unwatchable'
October 10, 2006
My book is for people who have watched even one ShahRukh Khan film," Mushtaq Shiekh announces with a twinkle in his eye.
We are sitting at the Barista cafe in suburban Bandra in Mumbai discussing his latest book, Still Reading Khan, a biography of King Khan himself.
Barista, Mushtaq claims, is his first home. Almost to prove his point, he requests the coffee-makers to turn off the Don music playing in the background, as it would hamper the recording of this interview.
Still Reading Khan, priced at Rs 2,995, is an elaborate work of art. Weighing four kg, this coffee table book is clearly a collector's item. It has rare pictures of Shah Rukh in his younger days, his wedding pictures, college mark sheets, film trivia and important moments in the superstar's life. The book has a lot of colour, lively quotes and fun chapters.
"The book is a masala book, severely commercial. It's Main Hoon Na, not Bawandar," quips Mushtaq.
He started his career as a cub reporter at G magazine and quickly became the editor of Star And Style. Later, he penned scripts for Ektaa Kapoor's serials like Kya Hadsa Kya Hakeekat, Kahiin Toh Hoga, Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii and many more.
Mushtaq, who is writing the script for Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om starring ShahRukh Khan, is a vice-president at Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts.
The young author talks to Entertainment Editor Ronjita Kulkarni about ShahRukh Khan and his new book which will be released on October 11.
How well do you know Shah Rukh?
I've known Shah Rukh for 11 years now. He's a close friend.
My friendship with him started as a journalist in G mazagine. I had gone to interview him for a feature called Khan festival. At that time, a lot of Khans were entering Bollywood -- Shabaaz, Arbaaz... One of them was Shah Rukh.
Shah Rukh made my job very easy. He was very articulate, and quite a quote-machine. He liked me too. And it meant so much that a star on the rise chooses you. If anyone from my magazine had to contact Shah Rukh, he wanted to speak to only me. It gave me this edge.
Our bond moved to friendship, and we would keep bouncing off ideas with each other. One of the ideas that took shape was the book I wrote on the making of Asoka. By then, I had left journalism. That was my first book.
How did Shah Rukh react when you told him that you wanted to write a book on him?
He did not take me seriously at first. He thought it was just one of those ideas.
But I was very clear about one thing. I would not harrow him when I started writing the book, ask him for numbers and names of his nani ki chachi ka naam. I respect space. These people live the life of dementia. The constant attention they get, the fans, the love, the work... I didn't want to add stress on his platter.
Why the title Still Reading Khan?
Still Reading Khan stands for SRK. The word 'still' also gave one the feeling that he was sitting for a portrait, and I was doing the reading. And it also sounded like I'm reading him, and I'm going to still continue. So you can expect sequels!
How did you structure the book?
When I started the book, I was petrified about what I was going to do. There's so much of this man to capture, and I had so much of information. I thought about some 40 stylish ways of breaking it into chapters. But there was so much that I just kept it aside for six months.
Then I thought, why am I being so smart about how I'm going to place the information? Let me simply start by 'Once upon a time.'
But there was another hitch. Where exactly would I start? So I went to Delhi. I knew Shah Rukh from Mumbai, but I didn't know Shah Rukh from Delhi. Staying there, I got to know him as a normal boy -- not Brand ShahRukh Khan -- but a boy with dreams and aspirations.
So tell us something about Shah Rukh we don't know yet.
He does not like to see himself on screen. I know his roles are debated, dissected by critics. It happened with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, and I'm sure it will happen with Don. But I found it surprising that the most watchable star finds himself most unwatchable. He tries his best not to watch his own movies, and I've noticed this over the years.
There's another thing. We all know Shah Rukh is very successful today. But we like to believe that people start from zero and reach this level. But when I went back to Shah Rukh's life, I saw that he's been a constant winner. He played football and hockey to win, he studied to top, he took to theatre to play the hero, he took to television to become a heartthrob. If he hadn't become an actor, he would be a topper in whatever career he picked.
How much help did Shah Rukh give you?
I interviewed him several times.
There are chapters on him speaking about his acting -- why he acts the way he does, how he plays his Raj, his stammer, his hair...
You have interestingly named chapters like Angry Young Man with dimples, Ha Ha Hee Hee Hu?
The first one is the action films' section, the second is comedies. The romantic films section is called Yuppie Love Stories.
Which is your favourite chapter?
The Others 1. It's part one of what others feel of Shah Rukh. It's a marvellous read simply to see what one man would mean to so many people. The real Shah Rukh is in that chapter.
Also, a chapter called Mera Paas Ma Hai, which is about his mother. It's a very emotional chapter, and was very difficult to write. I didn't want to underplay something important (his mother's death) that deserves its due. At the same time, I didn't want to overplay it, because it is his very private moment. I was not there at that time, so I had to live it through others who were.
Then, I had to speak to Shah Rukh. But I didn't want him to undergo that traumatic moment again. If you want to analyse the pain in Shah Rukh's eyes, just read this chapter. You will know where it comes from. To lose your parents at that age. Shah Rukh was only 18 when his mother died, his father died two years before that...
Who were the key people you spoke to?
His wife Gauri was my contact point. She gave me quite a few photographs.
I have spoken to many, many people including Farah Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viveck Vaswani... Also, his family like his sister Lala, his children, his in-laws.
Karan Johar would also be one of the key people, after Gauri. He also writes the foreword to my book.
Any obstacles while writing this book?
Yes, people don't like to part with photographs! But that was quite a minor one.
The greatest obstacle was that I had too much information. This book is about 450 pages, but I had 900 pages of information. Editing it hurt me a lot.
But technically, I have another book ready. So Still Reading Khan 2 is on its way!
Has Shah Rukh seen the book?
Yes, and he loved it. That's one of the reasons I'm grinning so hard!
What's the best compliment you've received?
It came from Ashutosh Gowariker. He told me this is your movie. You're not releasing a book, you're releasing a movie.
Buy Still Reading Khan right here!
https://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/oct/10sld1.htm
October 10, 2006
My book is for people who have watched even one ShahRukh Khan film," Mushtaq Shiekh announces with a twinkle in his eye.
We are sitting at the Barista cafe in suburban Bandra in Mumbai discussing his latest book, Still Reading Khan, a biography of King Khan himself.
Barista, Mushtaq claims, is his first home. Almost to prove his point, he requests the coffee-makers to turn off the Don music playing in the background, as it would hamper the recording of this interview.
Still Reading Khan, priced at Rs 2,995, is an elaborate work of art. Weighing four kg, this coffee table book is clearly a collector's item. It has rare pictures of Shah Rukh in his younger days, his wedding pictures, college mark sheets, film trivia and important moments in the superstar's life. The book has a lot of colour, lively quotes and fun chapters.
"The book is a masala book, severely commercial. It's Main Hoon Na, not Bawandar," quips Mushtaq.
He started his career as a cub reporter at G magazine and quickly became the editor of Star And Style. Later, he penned scripts for Ektaa Kapoor's serials like Kya Hadsa Kya Hakeekat, Kahiin Toh Hoga, Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii and many more.
Mushtaq, who is writing the script for Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om starring ShahRukh Khan, is a vice-president at Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts.
The young author talks to Entertainment Editor Ronjita Kulkarni about ShahRukh Khan and his new book which will be released on October 11.
How well do you know Shah Rukh?
I've known Shah Rukh for 11 years now. He's a close friend.
My friendship with him started as a journalist in G mazagine. I had gone to interview him for a feature called Khan festival. At that time, a lot of Khans were entering Bollywood -- Shabaaz, Arbaaz... One of them was Shah Rukh.
Shah Rukh made my job very easy. He was very articulate, and quite a quote-machine. He liked me too. And it meant so much that a star on the rise chooses you. If anyone from my magazine had to contact Shah Rukh, he wanted to speak to only me. It gave me this edge.
Our bond moved to friendship, and we would keep bouncing off ideas with each other. One of the ideas that took shape was the book I wrote on the making of Asoka. By then, I had left journalism. That was my first book.
How did Shah Rukh react when you told him that you wanted to write a book on him?
He did not take me seriously at first. He thought it was just one of those ideas.
But I was very clear about one thing. I would not harrow him when I started writing the book, ask him for numbers and names of his nani ki chachi ka naam. I respect space. These people live the life of dementia. The constant attention they get, the fans, the love, the work... I didn't want to add stress on his platter.
Why the title Still Reading Khan?
Still Reading Khan stands for SRK. The word 'still' also gave one the feeling that he was sitting for a portrait, and I was doing the reading. And it also sounded like I'm reading him, and I'm going to still continue. So you can expect sequels!
How did you structure the book?
When I started the book, I was petrified about what I was going to do. There's so much of this man to capture, and I had so much of information. I thought about some 40 stylish ways of breaking it into chapters. But there was so much that I just kept it aside for six months.
Then I thought, why am I being so smart about how I'm going to place the information? Let me simply start by 'Once upon a time.'
But there was another hitch. Where exactly would I start? So I went to Delhi. I knew Shah Rukh from Mumbai, but I didn't know Shah Rukh from Delhi. Staying there, I got to know him as a normal boy -- not Brand ShahRukh Khan -- but a boy with dreams and aspirations.
So tell us something about Shah Rukh we don't know yet.
He does not like to see himself on screen. I know his roles are debated, dissected by critics. It happened with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, and I'm sure it will happen with Don. But I found it surprising that the most watchable star finds himself most unwatchable. He tries his best not to watch his own movies, and I've noticed this over the years.
There's another thing. We all know Shah Rukh is very successful today. But we like to believe that people start from zero and reach this level. But when I went back to Shah Rukh's life, I saw that he's been a constant winner. He played football and hockey to win, he studied to top, he took to theatre to play the hero, he took to television to become a heartthrob. If he hadn't become an actor, he would be a topper in whatever career he picked.
How much help did Shah Rukh give you?
I interviewed him several times.
There are chapters on him speaking about his acting -- why he acts the way he does, how he plays his Raj, his stammer, his hair...
You have interestingly named chapters like Angry Young Man with dimples, Ha Ha Hee Hee Hu?
The first one is the action films' section, the second is comedies. The romantic films section is called Yuppie Love Stories.
Which is your favourite chapter?
The Others 1. It's part one of what others feel of Shah Rukh. It's a marvellous read simply to see what one man would mean to so many people. The real Shah Rukh is in that chapter.
Also, a chapter called Mera Paas Ma Hai, which is about his mother. It's a very emotional chapter, and was very difficult to write. I didn't want to underplay something important (his mother's death) that deserves its due. At the same time, I didn't want to overplay it, because it is his very private moment. I was not there at that time, so I had to live it through others who were.
Then, I had to speak to Shah Rukh. But I didn't want him to undergo that traumatic moment again. If you want to analyse the pain in Shah Rukh's eyes, just read this chapter. You will know where it comes from. To lose your parents at that age. Shah Rukh was only 18 when his mother died, his father died two years before that...
Who were the key people you spoke to?
His wife Gauri was my contact point. She gave me quite a few photographs.
I have spoken to many, many people including Farah Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viveck Vaswani... Also, his family like his sister Lala, his children, his in-laws.
Karan Johar would also be one of the key people, after Gauri. He also writes the foreword to my book.
Any obstacles while writing this book?
Yes, people don't like to part with photographs! But that was quite a minor one.
The greatest obstacle was that I had too much information. This book is about 450 pages, but I had 900 pages of information. Editing it hurt me a lot.
But technically, I have another book ready. So Still Reading Khan 2 is on its way!
Has Shah Rukh seen the book?
Yes, and he loved it. That's one of the reasons I'm grinning so hard!
What's the best compliment you've received?
It came from Ashutosh Gowariker. He told me this is your movie. You're not releasing a book, you're releasing a movie.
Buy Still Reading Khan right here!
https://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/oct/10sld1.htm
The link to buy the book:
Fan Fictions
1