“It Was Challenging to Play the Superstar That I’m Not” Says SRK

Shah Rukh Khan’s biggest takeaway from Fan has been ‘how not to be himself’ and other interesting excerpts

Going by the trailer of Fan, one would assume that it would’ve been more challenging for Shah Rukh Khan to play the psycho fanboy Gaurav. But it seems what he had a really tough time doing was ‘not being himself’ in the Maneesh Sharma thriller. In a recent interview published by The Hindu, SRK shares some interesting insights into both his on-screen characters, as well as what it means to live the superstar life for real. Here are a few excerpts-

Why Fan Needed Lookalikes

The whole point of the exercise was that at the end of the film nobody should say “they are the same people”. We could have taken different people and made this film but then it wouldn’t be as fantastic. If we have the same people, and at the end of the film you come out saying “ye dono alag the ” or at the beginning of the film you forget in the first ten minutes that it’s the same guy doing the two roles. The challenge was that.

Shah Rukh Khan

When you see the film, in the first 10 minutes or the last half hour and say “oh that wasn’t Shah Rukh”. If you are able to come out of the film and say that “the other boy was good”, that’ll be nice.

Shah Rukh Khan

On Being Gaurav

It’s a character created by five-six people. Maneesh’s writing, Adi’s belief, the VFX, costume and makeup people’s inputs, my acting. It has been created by several people’s personalities. And what we all think is a guy who should not be Shah Rukh. 

Shah Rukh Khan

I don’t think anybody ever spent so much money to make me not look like Shah Rukh Khan. If you ask me about Gaurav (the fan) I would say you should interview him separately. It’s all so schizophrenic and dichotomous. I don’t know what to say about him. Gaurav is a most unique character.

Shah Rukh Khan

Why Playing Aryan the Superstar Was Difficult

For the other role (Aryan) I can say that it was difficult because I am a superstar, but am not playing myself. The flamboyance is gone. He is more real, practical, grounded, patient. He is a star on the wane or on the rise, but he is not me. He is not Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan

Adi and Maneesh would not be so unfair as to say that “you are playing Shah Rukh Khan in real life”. That’s too personal. They had a character in mind. For me to play a superstar, and then remove myself from it to be a star that I am not, was more challenging. And yet I had to retain the generic-ness of what people think a superstar is.

Shah Rukh Khan

There is a scene in the film in which a rich man tells me “ itna paisa diya hai , c’mon deliver the job”. I would beat up the guy if he spoke to me like this in real life. My character loses it for a second but then says “I am on it, sir”. For reasons of decency he has to maintain a stoic silence, swallow his pride and just go away. In a real world it may happen like this but I, as a superstar, live in a very unreal world.

Shah Rukh Khan

There’s No Price to Pay for Being a Superstar

There is no price to pay really. I wanted to be a movie star — the biggest, most loved, hugged. I don’t want that to go away. This is what I live for. Every little opportunity I get to meet the people who have made me who I am, I take it up.

Shah Rukh Khan

Normally you matter only to your family, but if you have a family of a billion people, I think it’s a blessing. Someone told me that there is this burden of expectations. Well, then don’t be a superstar. Be a regular guy. 

Shah Rukh Khan

It Was Brave of Maneesh to Cast Me: SRK

Suddenly with this film I get to be the actor I wanted to be 25 years ago. Someone has to give me an opportunity. Everybody gets caught by the stakes too. Here’s this kid who doesn’t give a damn. It’s nice to have someone who takes the chance. And then you have a producer like Adi, who won’t go wrong with it. It is brave of Maneesh to cast me in a film which is unlike mine.

Shah Rukh Khan

If You Can’t Tell it’s VFX, it Has Done its Job Well

It took us eight days to shoot the interval scene and nine months to see what it looked like finally, and that scene is just two-and-a-half minutes long. Seven seconds of what you see on screen has been worked on by 300 people for seven days. And you will come out of the film asking “par VFX the kahan ?”. We assume in India that VFX is flying guns and cars. But this is just a film about two men. With just one of two flying shots.

Shah Rukh Khan