Even after 25 years in Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan still talks about his films, directors, co-stars and his creative inspiration, with humility, always ready for a new challenge nevertheless. In a conversation with film journalist Rajeev Masand, the actor reveals rather interesting details about parenting, his upcoming releases, his idea of happiness and why he hasn’t gotten around to working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali ever since Devdas.
“Stardom Is the Seventh Member of My Family”
SRK always makes you wonder about superstardom and if it throws reality completely out of the window for an actor. But after 25 years in the industry, the king of Bollywood explains how it has become the seventh member of his family.
After the first two years in the industry, success became a part of the family. So there’s a wife, now there are three children, there’s a sister and there’s stardom. Now we all live together. We take stardom just like we take each other’s success and failure, with a lot of love. The seventh one is bigger than the other six, but we accept it and move on. We don’t really pay too much attention to it.Shah Rukh Khan, Actor
“Apart From Their Looks, There’s Nothing Starry About My Kids”
Naturally, stardom and attention comes with a price. SRK goes on to talk about his kids being stalked by the paparazzi. He had recently appealed to the media to treat his family with some sensitivity, rather than stalking them at public places. But on the flipped, does all the attention go to their heads? More importantly, do they expect a piece of the stardom, since they were born in it?
Me, Gauri and my sister were very lower middle class. Having said that, we’re also of the belief that if you have the money, spend it on having a good life. After a certain safety net that you provide for your family, I’ve never saved any money. It just goes into making films. I will give my children amazing basic education and because I never had a house till I came to Mumbai, and that was hard, I’ll give them that. My kids don’t want anything more, they’re very clear about that. They don’t travel the way star kids do. Apart from the fact that they’re stunning looking, there’s nothing starry about them.Shah Rukh Khan
“Anushka Lies About Being In Awe of Me”
Coming to films, Shah Rukh speaks with excitement about Imtiaz Ali’s upcoming film Jab Harry Met Sejal, followed by Aanand L Rai’s next. But before we get to that, SRK shares a secret about his co-star Anushka Sharma.
Anushka lies about being in awe of me. Right at the beginning of the Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi shoot she came up to me and said ‘you can’t act’. She was great with lines and doing such a fantastic job and I was in love with her and the way she talks. We were shooting some song and she said ‘you know I really like you, I’ve never really liked you as an actor’. In the last shot of the song, I thought maybe now she’s seen the depth of my acting, so I turned and asked her ‘do you think I’m a good actor?’ She said ‘no, you’re a really good person.’ she was never in awe of me. But even now, in her interviews, not once has she said that I can act. But I put Anushka in the category of actors who would not say a line if they don’t believe in it.Shah Rukh Khan
On Being a Lover Without the Height
Shah Rukh talks about his vertically challenged character in Aanand L Rai’s next with child-like excitement. The idea behind it is quite the challenge to begin with, and the technology is helping them discover new aspects of storytelling every day.
This film is written by Himanshu and Aanand. It is very different, a very interesting film. We’re discovering new things with every shot we take. Appu Raja was 15 years ago. I don’t want any references. The whole idea is, Aanand had one very straight line. Because he believes I’m a great lover, so he believes that can I take away everything of Shah Rukh-ness, which he does in a romantic film, and then can you be the greatest lover in the world.Shah Rukh Khan
Of Period Films and Sanjay Leela Bhansali
SRK jokes about finally feeling evolved enough to be in another Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. But why hasn’t that happened since their last outing Devdas in 2002? The actor says that apart from being a bit wary of period films and historic dramas, there’s one habit of that Bhansali has, which SRK just can’t handle.
Sanjay has this really bad habit of coming to cast me in a film just three days before he’s shooting. ‘You have to do this’ he’s say. ‘Ya Sanjay, let’s do it’ I say. Then he’ll look at his team, he’ll look at me, and say ‘I’m staring in three days’. I say ‘You want me in three days?’ He says, ‘No no, in ten days.’ My love for working with Bhansali has been for so long, that you don’t tell me the film, just tell me the month. It’s time I did a film with him, I think I’ve evolved enough now to be in a Bhansali film.Shah Rukh Khan
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)