Best Actor Shah Rukh Khan – Devdas
I was a little more confident of winning this year than in previous years, as awards are usually given to roles rather than actors. Any actor who played Devdas would be successful and in the running for an award. But I'd like to think I did well.
I don't think I acted better than in my previous films or that I grew as an actor. It wasn't a difficult role to play. After two days of heated discussions, both Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I agreed on how I should play Devdas. All we had to do was put our hearts into it. And we did.
After eleven years of working in films, you can become jaded and mechanical. But Devdas was a role I played completely from the heart. It also helped to be drunk during some scenes, as I didn't know where I would start and where I would end.
If I hadn't won for Devdas, I would have felt very bad. I was playing a role that had been played by such wonderful people before. Now at least it can be said that I was a little successful.
My favourite scenes in the film? One is when I come home after my father's funeral and say to my mother, Bade achche aadmi the...(He was a good man...) The other one I like because it is my wife's favourite scene. It is when I say to my mother, Babuji ne kaha, Paro ko chhod do. Paro ne kaha sharaab chhod do. Tum ke rahi ho, ghar chhod do. Ek din ayega jab who kahega, yeh Duniya chhod do. (Father said I should leave Paro, Paro said I should stop drinking, you tell me to leave the house. One day God will tell me to leave this world). These are very cliched lines but I liked the way I said them, it was very poetic.
Devdas was really, really beautiful. I don't think I will love any film in the next few years as much as I loved Devdas. It is the epitome of romance. My parents would have been very proud of me doing Devdas. I don't know how my son will react to it in a few years. Maybe he will like Baadshah more.
To be completely honest, it was very, very important for me to win the award. In a way, it is the benchmark that I have set for myself, the standard that I have to maintain. If I don't get a Filmfare Award in a year, it means that I haven't done well. It's really not true that every time I am nominated for a Filmfare Award, I win. The last trophy I won was three years ago for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But I work really hard and I am a popular actor and that's the whole logic of a popular award.
Last year, I was nominated for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, but I knew Aamir Khan deserved it for Lagaan. Anyone in Lagaan would have. Even if Aditya Lakhia, who played the role of a polio-affected bowler, had won the Best Actor trophy, I would not have been disappointed.
In the year of Mohabbatein, the blow was softened by me getting the Critics' Award for the film. With all due respect to what some have to say, the most popular film that year was Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai and Hrithik Roshan fully deserved the award. Being a sportsman myself, I have a sportsmanship. I always desire it, I always work hard for it, I always desire it out of greed or sheer hope, but when I lose, I don't feel like I have lost, I feel like I haven't won.
I now have 10 trophies to call my own, including the Swiss Consulate Trophy, for which I would like to thank Yash Chopra and only Yash Chopra. I want another 10 before I retire.
I hope to be nominated next year and win. I have two films coming out this year and hopefully I have acted well in one of them. Not only do I hope to win an award next year, I also want to attend the Filmfare Awards with great enthusiasm. I am looking forward to it.