Man on Top
Jitesh Pillai
He walks his walk. He talks the talk. He wears his look. Shah Rukh Khan. Now that's entertainment. After a year-long "God knows why" hiatus, the ultimate fantasy of print media is back. Part of Shah Rukh Khan's success has been his understanding of what the media needs. He will feed the glossy magazines with material, entertain the news journals with knowledge and chat with his friends.
Quick-witted retorts and high-tension banter go hand in hand with SRK's territory. His quicksilver eyes always make you think of gloom. But dig deeper and he'll quickly distract you.
Yes, he's desperately funny. His laugh is a kind of diffuse "haha haha haha". And best of all, there's a childlike enthusiasm. In and out of films, he's a mood-maker, the king of jibes. Yes, yes, yes, SRK. There's a method to the madness.
June 25, 2001 will mark exactly ten years since SRK made the leap from television to movies. Television couldn't hold him. The tongue-in-cheek intimacy of soap operas wasn't for him. From a one-room flat at Asuda Kutir in Bandra to his bungalow Mannat at Land's End, SRK's dreams have come true.
Right now, he's burning hotter than a hand grenade. He's busy thinking up brilliant one-liners for his cartoon character Shahrock for his portal SRKworld.com. The techies at Dreamz Unlimited are putting the finishing touches on the T-shirts, logos and knick-knacks that feature the character.
Even the smoke rising from the actor's cigarette is unbridled, winding over this boy/man, much more boyish than some of his film roles. On a cool night, his peppery wit flows. So here is my golden jubilee interview with good old SRK. Smells of the old days again.
So you've become an entrepreneur now?
OK, I'm an entrepreneur. But I'm not a hardcore entrepreneur. Hey, I feel a little weird. Thanks to the media hype, I've become a brand name now. But wearing a business suit and carrying a laptop and going to business lunches doesn't make you an entrepreneur.
Haven't you overextended yourself?
I can do my job as well as any guy with an MBA. My heart is in the right place. I love to experiment. If I do ten things, maybe eight of them will fail. But at least I will have tried. Also, others will learn from my failure. Listen, I am not a pucca (real) entrepreneur, I am just very busy. Ha!
If you are in the entertainment business, you have to be an entrepreneur. Business plans, revenue models, venture capitalists, are just names, like a jargon. Ultimately, you have to succeed. There are so many people like Jai Mehta, Kishore Lulla and Bharatbhai Shah who help me out. Business has become complicated now. There were shops earlier too. Back then, people were called retailers, now they are called entrepreneurs. I was born into acting. I am still learning the business.
Please rate your ten years in showbiz.
On June 26, 2001, I will have spent 10 years in the business. So much of that time has been wasted explaining my position to everyone. Now I finally don't need to do that anymore. Yes, success has humbled me, but not my arrogance. I always asked the biggest producers for scripts. I still do. My only advice to my so-called well-wishers is that even if my life is not right, at least get yours right.
The media really got on your nerves early last year, didn't it?
No, on the contrary, they've been too kind. Sometimes they go too far with praise, sometimes they destroy me with criticism. It's what I call the stretch effect. They praise a person to heaven, bring them back down to earth with a bang, then console them. I'm part of this game too.
Journalism has also undergone drastic changes. Half the time I'm trying to explain my state of mind to a college dropout who somehow already has an opinion of me. Then there are the self-proclaimed psychoanalysts who live in godforsaken villages who have an opinion on everything from what movie I should do to how I should defecate. What can I do? I refuse to willingly endure any more fools.
It's not the most apt comparison, but I feel a bit like Salieri, Mozart's arch-rival. Salieri said to God, "It's okay if you create someone more talented than me. But you shouldn't have given me the brain to realize that someone is more talented than me." I feel the same way, I have the brain to see through idiotic morons.
Okay, let's do a quick run through of the stupid questions you've been asked lately.
A lot, but the top ones are - 1) Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 2) How do you react to being such a big star? 3) How has fatherhood changed you? 4) What do you think about the competition? 5) Lately your films have not been successful, are you losing your tact? 6) It is said that you have become repetitive in your acting. 7) You come across as an arrogant person, but you are not. 8) Your most embarrassing moment when people ask me embarrassing questions about turning an entrepreneur. 9) Has the media been unfair to you? 10) Has the media been fair to you?
I wish more of you had been in Mohabbatein.
Honestly, Mohabbatein was a wonderful experience. Of the 18 scenes I had, 12 were extremely fulfilling for me. I was in pain. I fell during the scenes where I play the violin, the pain showed in my eyes. It was a win from day one. I breathed the same air as Amitabh Bachchan. Aditya (Chopra) could have backed out after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge but didn't. Mohabbatein was a risky film. He didn't give in to the big stars, unlike so many other directors in recent times. And at least he didn't end up making Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Part 2.
Are there many sides to you as an actor?
I have an emotional side, a physical side and even a sexual side. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was dominated by my emotional side. Duplicate had a more physical side. Josh was more sexual. The scene where I ask Aishwarya Rai if she is seeing anyone had a sexual element. It was almost incestuous. Darr too was very sexual in his approach. I liked the way Max walked into Josh, it was a sexual strutting, almost like a panther. Kind of like Richard Gere in American Gigolo.
I like the little pleasures in life, I like acting and I constantly want to do something new. That makes all the difference.
In Ashoka, are you moving from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Tommy Hilfigers to the shirtless look?
(Laughs) No, I've moved from Tommy Hilfiger to Bernardo Bertolucci. I don't have a great physique for the shirtless look. Not yet. So I'll leave that to the others. And we have quite a lot of them, don't we?
Why is there so much fuss about the film?
Listen, we are not making an epic like Spartacus. It is an episode in the life of Emperor Ashoka. My film begins where the life of Ashoka ends. It is neither a historical film nor a biographical epic. I mean, it does not have the scope of a Gandhi or Schindler's List. It is the personal portrayal of a warrior king.
I was in New York when the controversies broke out. Neither are we presenting historical facts nor are we twisting them. Ashoka is, at some level, a love story between Kareena Kapoor and me. It is a smaller film being made by my company called Arclightz. When Santosh (Sivan) was shooting with me for Dil Se Chhaiyan chhaiyan on top of the train, he narrated the gist of Ashoka. On the spot, I decided to do it.
Do you feel weak because you are responsible for so many people at once? Does it bother you?
I don't carry stones on my shoulders, they are watermelons. No, seriously, I would like to travel light, take the excess weight out of it all. People don't let you do that. It's like Joseph Heller's dilemma. Today I have more to lose than ever before. That's OK. But I don't want my 10 years of work to be belittled here. Just because Mohabbatein is a super hit, it is being called my comeback film. Please excuse me.
Is acting still a lot of fun? Will your interpretation of Devdas resemble Nicholas Cage's excessive drinker in Leaving Las Vegas?
I would like to reinterpret all my roles, be it Devdas or Ashoka. I will play Devdas with a mean streak. I am sure the women will love him. I don't mind that people say it wasn't as good as the original or that Dilip (Kumar) saab was infinitely better. It's okay. I would rather drown trying to be different than just keep my head above water like everyone else.
In fact, even my son doesn't understand when I tell him that I am a good actor. Being a good actor is not enough at all. But I will not bend. I have decided that I will do my best at what I want to do. And if I don't try, I will never know what I am capable of.
Please continue.
To this day I don't even know which is my better profile, my left or the right. I don't even want to know. I don't care. I just play from my heart.
What's your mantra for staying cool in showbiz?
There was a tagline for a foreign film I like - "For everyone who's always won... for everyone who's always lost... and for everyone who's still trying." That's so true for those in showbiz. I may never paint a Mona Lisa, but there's nothing stopping me from throwing bottles of paint on a canvas.
Excuse the innuendo, but you are surrounded by some of the most mediocre minds.
Hey, it's not polite to say that. But yes, I feel that way sometimes too. I have a number of amazing ideas, but unfortunately the execution leaves a lot to be desired. So I have to take a personal interest in just about everything I do. It gets stressful; yes, maybe I've taken on too much.
Does that mean the heartache too?
Sure. With death threats, blackmail, the death of someone close to you, bad press, yes, of course showbiz is about heartache. But I still love it so much.
You were enthralling in Kaun Banega Crorepati. Speaking of which, were you and Juhi Chawla offered to co-host a game show by the TV channels?
I had the time of my life at KBC. I think we were offered a show by Sony or the guys at Zee. But I feel like why try to do something when the best is just around the corner? Yes, since I am considered greedy, I must say I gave up a lot of money. Ha!
You are working with three generations of actors in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Isn't that amazing? The 70s group with Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan. There is so much respect for them. Then there is Kajol and I who are the 90s group. We are the whole heart group. Then there is the 2000 group - Kareena Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. They are a healthy mix of heart and head. I am amazed when I see Hrithik and Kareena acting. They are so confident. There is
none of this haanji papaji (yes papa) foot-touching nonsense with this generation of actors. I was not strutting around or touching feet. Also, the brand new generation of actors comes from film families. They can go back to their rich and little-known lifestyles even if their films don't work. The insecurity is not so obvious, which is good. They can concentrate on acting.
To stretch a business metaphor, the actors of the '70s were the retailers, those of the '90s were the yuppies, and the group of 2000 is the corporate type.
Have you noticed an equally big change in attitudes?
Sure, I have. Today, hard work has become distorted. Hard work is about getting in your sleek BMW and lifting weights for three hours, hard work is about going to dance classes and rehearsals. In my day, actors were just born; you didn't have to learn. I remember the Hollywood movie Soldier. Kurt Russell, the soldier, has to fight an automated dumb soldier. He fails miserably on all assessments. But finally, when it comes to the stakes, Russell wins effortlessly. In a similar way, I see our generation of actors as all heart.
I feel the redundant comparison with Hrithik has annoyed you.
I am really happy for Hrithik. Why should I bear even the slightest grudge against anyone? I have seen him as a child, as an associate director in King Uncle, we spent hours together. Today, we spend hours acting together.
So much has been made out of me watching Hrithik at the Filmfare Awards night. Believe me; my shots have been taken out of context. They were not even my reactions to his performance. It has been made out that I became insecure. Just because some know-it-all TV channels and organisers wanted to make fun of me. Hey, that's not it at all. As I said, it is not important to displace Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan. It is important to be like us first.
How was it to shoot with Kajol after a gap of two years?
Like old times. As if nothing has changed. In Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, we pick up where Kuch Kuch Hota Hai left off. It's so much fun. Didn't Kajol say in an interview that this thing about chemistry between us is overrated? Maybe she's right. I can even flirt with a hippo. And hey, I'm not even an animal. Ha!
Is your son Aryan not going to make his screen debut in K3G?
Look, such things annoy me. I mean, it's a one-minute extra role. Karan wants him there as a lucky charm. And everyone is already struggling with that. I want my child to have all the good things in life. That's his privilege. I don't hold that against him at all. But I also want him to grow up normally. He should earn his stripes and not be on top because he's Shah Rukh Khan's son.
I have seen so many terribly spoiled children of stars. If you've been driving a Mercedes since you were two, chances are you don't appreciate too many things in life. It even hurts me sometimes when I hear star kids on the cusp of a film career say, "Hey, I don't know much about my father's films or anyone else's. I don't watch films. I never really cared." Oh God, my heart bleeds when I see and hear such callousness. Movies are my life. It's OK if my son doesn't want to be an actor. But I would be devastated if he despised or looked down on my profession. That would kill me.
OK, give me another piece of wisdom about acting.
You know what? You should feel like an innocent child while you're acting because an actor's life off camera is definitely spent in scheming and manipulation. My kid is amazed when he jumps from a height of four feet. He says, "Daddy, I did it." It's the same with me when I'm acting. I try never to see the dark side of the moon (the negative).
For once, give me a quote from the dark side of the moon.
Death is better than defeat. Defeat is something you have to live with your whole life.
***
Filmfare April 2001
Critics’ Award Best Actor for Mohabbatein
As always, I believe I deserved the Filmfare Award. For me, it was the best performance of the year. I really believe that.
This award is not just for Mohabbatein, but for all my work this year. It was an award for the failure of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, the scrapping of Josh. It was an award for my blood, sweat and tears this year. It was my night.
Mohabbatein was misunderstood by everyone. All people could talk about was its length. Yet it remains my most cherished performance since Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.
Raj Aryan was the most unheroic hero. I mean, there was nothing remotely macho about a guy who wore soft colors, had a sweater slung over his shoulder, held a violin in his hand and talked about his never-ending love for a dead girl. In real life, he would have been a wimp.
When Aditya Chopra narrated the script to me, the phrase stuck with me: Jahan se main khada hoon… main jeet gaya. (I will face the world, I will win???)
The fact is, this sentence sums up my whole life. I am a winner across the board. From where I stand, I can only see love and success.
I am an eccentric. I don't have the looks of a movie hero, I sing and dance at weddings, I don't have godparents, I don't give rehearsed speeches, I don't force tears into my eyes on stage, I do advertising, I'm not exclusive. But whatever I do, I do it with all my heart. That's why everyone else listens.
Maybe I hold up a mirror to everyone. I'm not a superhero. I tell them to love me with all my mistakes and weaknesses. And they do.
Now, standing where I am, I was the winner that night. I felt even bigger than Russell Crowe in Gladiator. No doubt about it.
I am told that Amitji had also won eight Filmfares. That gives me a special feeling, it was the same feeling during Mohabbatein. It felt so great to breathe the same air as him. Not for a minute was there a feeling of being one step ahead of the other. I think the respect for him shows in every scene. I mean, there were no heated confrontations or unnecessary dialogue baazi (twists).
Mohabbatein was also special because I did 70 percent of it on crutches. I had just had an operation on my knee. I was in extreme pain. There were times when I couldn't shoot because of the pain. That shows on screen.
The Filmfare trophy will never be just another object for the mantelpiece for me. It was a part of my life, my memories. The image of Vinod Chopra walking on stage with his mum to receive the Best Director award for Parinda still makes my throat tighten.
I want to win at least seven more trophies before Filmfare can give me a lifetime achievement award.
And what do I want to do next? I want to be better than Shah Rukh Khan. Well, that will be a big task. So while the rest of the world is trying to be SRK, I will be better than me.