Exclusive Shah Rukh Khan talks about films Suhana Khan and more

Stardom is his inseparable shadow, sometimes ahead of him, sometimes behind him… but always around him. His fans are the same too. Unflinching, untiring, unwavering. Three decades and counting, the Shah Rukh Khan juggernaut refuses to slow down. His energy matches the enthusiasm of his fans, his charm continues to woo women and inspire men across the globe. His stardom intact, what motivates him now is the desire to challenge himself as an actor. Fan, Dear Zindagi, Raees and now Zero are proofs of his experiments with the craft. He revels in the journey. Each character adding to his creative catalogue, each character born out of the turmoil of incompleteness… in search of completeness. With Zero behind him, he’s now keen to take flight as Rakesh Sharma in a biopic on the famed astronaut. And rule the skies… once again.

Has the audience become more critical over the years?

You need to keep telling different stories. If Chak De! India did well, should I keep making the same film? That’s playing safe. As an artist, you can’t keep making the same painting. None of us had liked Chak De! India after making it. But the audiences liked it. People had rejected the title Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge… but the film is still running. Similarly, when we were in Cannes, one of the critics had described Devdas as an ‘ostentatious, over the top, vulgar film.’ But everyone liked it. So you never know. The important thing is can I tell a story that will touch people’s hearts? If something touches your heart, you’ll not abuse it even if you don’t like it.

Today the audience reactions to a film are instant…

Because of social media you hear the reactions immediately unlike earlier. The audience start rating it even before critics do. I remember Yashji (Chopra) and I were at Mehboob Studio on the Saturday, after the release of Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), and he told me, ‘Beta yeh picture achhi nahi hui. The critics haven’t liked it.’ In his greatness, he said he wanted to apologise. We called up Adi (Chopra) and he said wait till Monday -Tuesday.Then I was shooting at Mehboob Studio for King Uncle (1993) when Deewana (1992) released. Rakesh Roshan said, “Arre yaar Deewana chal gayi.’ I said, ‘Haan, maine bhi suna’.Then I walked towards my house and Salim (Khan) uncle waved out to me from his balcony. “Bhai tumhari picture chal gayi. I’d been to the barber and someone asked for a ‘Shah Rukh Khan haircut’,” he said. So I came to know the reactions to my film incidentally. But today people even predict the collections beforehand.

You’ve worked with directors from Yash Chopra to Aanand L Rai. Any other director you’d like to work with?

I enjoyed working with Mani Ratnam. It was fun. He wanted me to do Raavan. But I was caught up then. Also, it was a bilingual. I found it difficult to do that. Aanand sir is someone I’d like to work with again. But I want to make an action film with him. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s fun. It’s been a long time since I did his kind of film. He had asked me to do one but I was busy with Zero. Amongst the new people, Rajkumar Hirani would be nice to work with.

Suhana was seen accompanying you on the sets of Zero. Is she also planning to join the industry?

No no! Yes, she wants to act but she needs to train for three-four years before that. She’s doing theatre in London now. Hopefully, she’ll shift to America. She came here as part of learning acting. So, she needed to spend time on film sets. She did some of that in London too with Gurinder (Chadha). We were shooting a song. I wanted her to watch Katrina (Kaif) and Anushka (Sharma) because both of them are such different kind of actors. Katrina has her own charm and Anushka has her own way of enacting. (Laughs) But what they did instead is put her onto me as the assistant director to get me on time from home. She’d say, ‘Papa, the shot is ready’. She needs to finish her education first. Education formalises and makes your craft better. She wants to do stage, street theatre… There are plenty of opportunities around the world. In India, I guess, we don’t learn acting. We just assume hum mein talent hain.

Some of your films have been ahead of their time like Asoka, Swades…

(Laughs) It’s best to say a film is ahead of its time when it flops. That’s the best excuse you have. Swades had flopped when it released. But in retrospect everybody talks about it being a lovely film. Perhaps, it was ahead of its time as we realise its relevance and appreciate it now. But at that point, it had Shah Rukh Khan and Ashutosh Gowarikar after Lagaan. People went with the expectation of seeing a thrilling film like Lagaan. But, we gave them something else. (Smiles) Apart from that, some films have been bad. If they’ve not done well, they’ve not done well.

How do you view the importance of VFX in Hindi cinema?

VFX has to be made prominent in Hindi films for better storytelling in India. We’re making the largest number of films. We assume we’re the best filmmakers in the world. But the new audience, the younger generation, is not going to be forgiving about the cinematic visuals and the sound experience. Reason being they’re used to watching some beautiful international releases on their phones. Even in small towns, most children are growing up watching all those films. They can be unforgiving about an excuse like ‘Hindi cinema mein chalta hai’. We must be the last generation that will see a tacky film. People believe that VFX has to be used only for films like Baahubali. But that’s not true. VFX has to be used for the smallest of films. Directors should come forward and use VFX to enhance their storytelling.

Lastly, what keeps you going as an artiste?

As an artiste I’m incomplete. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t like to work. Why would I wake up in the morning and still try to do something? As an artiste I’m restless. I’m always thinking how I can bring in something new, as an actor and as a producer. If you believe you’re complete, then you’re boring. The journey is important. I view an achievement as a milestone and not the end line. But I never plan it. I don’t calculate that I should earn this much or I should win that many awards or I should make that many hit films. It’s organic. If you’ve worked in films as long as I have, specifics become less important. You can’t predict the business of the film, no matter how much of an expert you are. I find myself becoming less and less of an expert. That’s why I love doing the films I’m doing because I’m not looking for an end in that film. After 25 years of working, I feel the only reason you should work is for the happiness of your art.



from filmfares http://bit.ly/2Rz4nB7