I’m very embarrassed when I’m called a superstar
Nilufer Qureshi
It's late at night and he's having a quick bite to eat. Between bites, he's discussing a scene with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Devdas. A sore back and a seemingly battalion of visitors can't dampen his enthusiasm to engage with everyone he meets.
Cut to his bungalow Mannat. The children Aryan and Suhana vie for his attention. "Dad, you look good today," Aryan remarks. The father replies, "You can have a body like Salman Khan if you work out and drink milk." Khan Jr. immediately teases, "But I don't want to be like him, I want to be like you."
The teasing is over and SRK is ready for all my questions.
You must be happy with the response to your performance in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Both Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra love me too much, they think of me while writing a film. In fact, I didn't even want to hear the script of K3G as I was sure that my character must have been written with a lot of love. If it was below expectations in terms of performance, it was only on me. I was also the last person to see the film as both Adi and Karan are very confident about their results. I know very well that they make films only for themselves but they write roles only for me. In K3G, I had a writer-assisted role, I had to do it well. Some of my friends have told me that it is my best performance but the fact is that I did the film under very stressful conditions. But yes, it is a great feeling when I am congratulated.
Would you say you are successful because of the Chopras and Karan?
Adi and Karan know me better as an actor. I believe in them and they believe in me and that is 90 percent of the battle won. There is a comfort zone. I work equally hard as an actor with anyone else. I give my best shot to every role. But yes, as far as commercial success is concerned, I have been a star for the last few years because of them. I am a good actor; they made me a big star. Thanks to Karan, Adi, Yash Chopra, Abbas-Mustan and Rakesh Roshan, I am called a superstar today.
Are you comfortable with the tag of a superstar?
I am very embarrassed when I am called a superstar and even more so when I am told that I am no longer a superstar. Let me tell every actor who is or wants to be a superstar that it is not at all about doing well, it is about doing well consistently. And that is hard. I have been a consistent actor and star for the last ten years and I am proud of it. It is not about doing the right films, the right songs or looking cool. The confidence that you are doing the right thing is much more important. It takes a superhuman effort to get up every morning for 10 years and say I am doing the right thing. It is also about maintaining balance. When people say Shah Rukh Khan is better than X, Y, or Z, I don't believe them. Nor do I believe anyone who says X, Y, Z is better than Shah Rukh Khan.
You don't think you are a superstar?
Someone told me the other day, "We are signing three superstars to endorse our product. One of them is you and the other two are Sachin Tendulkar and Kareena Kapoor." I really believe Sachin and Kareena are superstars. I also really believe that I am not as good as them. I always wanted to be like Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan). I have watched other actors' films too and aspired to be like them. But I have never seen any of my films and said, "I want to be Shah Rukh Khan." So how can I be a superstar? For me, it's all about doing my job well.
What exactly do you mean by 'getting it right'?
I mean doing everything from the heart. I meet actors and actresses who come with the mindset that they will rape or destroy a scene. I can never destroy a scene. I want to bond with the scene. I enjoy acting more than any other actor in the country and it is evident. I enjoy it without any hard feelings, without any rivalry and without any ill will towards anyone. I act for no other reason than to enjoy it. I like making someone feel beautiful, sad or emotionally touching in any way. It is very difficult to keep doing what people like but I work hard to do that.
How important was the success of K3G for you?
Commercially it was very important because a lot of things depended on it, not for me but for Yash Johar. For me personally, success is a very different parameter now. For me, Asoka is a success. I did a film like Asoka and played a character like Asoka at a time when I didn't have to do that. I can ask for any role but I did something different and that is success for me.
Were you disappointed with the box office performance of Asoka?
To be honest, we will make money with Asoka. It was sold cheaply because I knew it was a different kind of film. Everyone warned me that I was belittling myself by selling the film at a low price, but that was the only way it could make money. It made money and that's good enough.
How important is money to you?
Nobody can buy me as an actor. I can be bought as a commodity or a product but never as an actor. I have never accepted a film for money and never will. Yes, I will do shows, dance at weddings and promote products for money but I will not act for money. I will not compromise as an actor. So, when I produce films, money is not the issue. Asoka went over budget, if we had completed it with the planned budget of Rs 5 crores, it would have been a little different. But that's still okay as the final product looked beautiful and gigantic.
So many people in the industry say they don't understand the films they make.
That's fine with me. I never thought the industry would understand me, yet they understood me and loved me. Now I'm trying to make them understand another facet, with time they will understand. I have met people who say it's fine even if your film wasn't a hit. Come on, I'm not stupid; I knew Asoka wasn't going to be the biggest hit of the year. I can tell you the film's gross the day I see it. I'm not a fool. I hope for the best and I wish it makes more than it deserves. I have been part of some of the most successful films made in India and some of the least successful too. But I have never been part of some of the most unintelligent films ever made in India. Understandably, you either do it right or you do it wrong. Abbas-Mustan made Badshah with me for no other reason than their love for me. I forced them to do it. I later felt bad because my belief made someone else suffer. This is not fair. I made both my films (Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Asoka) based on my belief and I will make my third one based on my belief too. Making films is my way of saying thank you for putting me in a position where I can make films.
Does failure not disappoint you?
If it is a collective effort to succeed, then failure can never make up for it. That is sad. But it is not the end of the road. Failure teaches me nothing. I am very stubborn. I believe that if I keep banging my head against the wall, the wall will come down. Maybe I am successful because I do not acknowledge failure. Recently, Anil Kapoor said to me, "After K3G, you will remain a star for the next ten years." Inshallah! But who really knows? Because all that depends on next Friday.
Do you suffer from bouts of insecurity?
Me? Insecure? Why? Ha ha ha. Why would I be insecure when I've been here for 10 years? At a certain point in my career, I put blinders on. I stopped looking at what other actors were doing. If I hadn't put those blinders on, I would have become unpredictable. I would have started doing things that stem from insecurity, competition and selfishness.
Since mid-January 2002, you have been talking about taking a break. Why?
I have worked enough in the last ten years. I want to take it easy now. If K3G had not been successful and I had taken a break, people might have said he is unemployed. I had decided to complete all my work before December 2001, but that didn't quite work out. At the age of 45, when my children are teenagers, I don't want to use as an excuse that I want to spend more time with them because then, let's face it, I won't get as much work. Believe me, the break is not an excuse. It is a genuine desire to renew my schedule. For the first time, I have started enjoying something more than acting, and that is acting with my children. Aryan is like me, so I think he needs his father more, as I know I needed my parents more. I couldn't do JP Dutta's LoC because of a problem with my leg. In the next two or three months I'm going to fix my leg. I also want to pore over the scripts of the films I make, both as a producer and as an actor. In 10 years I've learned enough to start getting involved in the creative aspects.
Have you changed as a person?
I haven't changed at all. I'm still a damn self-centered dog. I was like that and always will be. It's part of my acting. I'm an arrogant actor. If you take away the arrogance, you take away the actor. Now there are days when I wake up in the morning and wish for a new set of bones. While I stick with acting, there's a part of me that's decomposing. I don't kid myself about it. Someone wrote that I take myself too seriously. Better I take myself seriously than the industry swallows me up. Yes, I take my acting very seriously. I can't take it lightly, as doing the same thing for over a decade can exhaust you. People tell me that I look very young in K3G. That's very strange, as I've never told anyone that I'm old. Just because younger heroes have appeared on the scene doesn't mean I'm old.
Are you the same guy you were when you first started this business?
I'm just as emotional as I was. I'm still lonely, I'm still sad and I still cry. But now when I'm lonely I just lie down with my kids and I'm OK. I'm still very ambitious. I still want to come first in every race. I only have two fears, one is that one day I won't be able to see myself, I'll become completely invisible. And two is my bones. I hope there's a shop that sells a new set of bones.
Are you nice because you want to be loved?
It is part of my nature to be nice. It is no longer difficult to be nice because it is the very core of my existence. What would I be if people did not love me? I like people to love me. My greatest desire is to be loved by as many people as possible. I am successful without any form of manipulation. I am yet to walk into a studio and behave like a star. I fill my director with confidence. If I say to any director that I don't want to shoot today, it is okay with him. When we were halfway through Devdas, Sanjay Bhansali said to me, "Shah Rukh tere ko sau khoon maaf." Even with my costars, I have a good rapport. I get along better with the girls because since it is the opposite sex, there are no egos. I also doubt if any male actor would say anything bad about me.
Sunny Deol has a problem with you. Is that true?
If he has a problem with me, he has never told me about it. Anil Sharma told me that Sunny has no problems with me. I don't know what problems Sunny has with the people he has worked with. That is not my business and I will not interfere. I believe that if you don't like something, don't do it and if you do something, it is better that you like it. It is very simple.
Were you embarrassed when you were asked by Vir Sanghvi on a TV talk show if you were bisexual?
No, I was not embarrassed but I really wondered why he asked me such a question. I was told that I was free to cut a question I didn't like. But I will never do an interview where I cannot answer a question. Maybe Mr Vir Sanghvi just wanted to know. Maybe he would have asked me out if I had said yes. Maybe he had read the nonsense about Adi, Karan and me. I must be the first hero to have a casting couch for his directors. Seriously, it is so ridiculous. Asking me if I am bisexual is as stupid as asking me, 'Don't you fall in love with your heroines?' I love my heroines but I don't fall in love with them. When I started, people said I was too forceful, then they said I was manipulative. Then came stories about me for drug abuse, alleged affairs, and bisexuality. I've been in this business too long to be influenced by that kind of nonsense.
They say that your bungalow Mannat did not bring you luck.
First of all, to have a bungalow like this you have to be lucky. I don't think that a place or a house defines you, it is the place or the house that defines you.
Would you say you are lucky?
Just yesterday, Juhi (Chawla) told me that she was watching an old film of mine and I was really lucky to have acted in it. I would think there was something else involved to survive for ten years on luck alone.