Extracts from a India-West interview with Shahrukh Khan. SRK talks about the controversies that continue to surround him, his chemistry with Kajol, his next My Name Is Khan and all his upcoming films.
SRK refuses to let controversies rule his life
I think it’s unimportant. I don’t want to waste time from things I like to do, like making movies or having intelligent conversations with intelligent people. Watch a movie. Work on my laptop. Spend some time with my children. Think of a script and do what I do best..
I don’t know why they do what they do. I do it because I’m moving on to do some other project that needs to be released. You don’t like ‘Barber’? Take it out. If I walk out of here and there are 500 people standing there, and I turn around and some girl says, ‘You hurt me,’ I won’t ask her why. I won’t ask her how. I won’t say, ‘What the hell are you saying?’ I will just say, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. I don’t know how, but I’m sorry.’ And I’ll move on. Because whenever people say, ‘I love you,’ I don’t ask them why. I just say, Thank you very much. So I have neither the right, nor the time, nor the inclination, to sit down. As a matter of fact, to sit down and explain your point of view to a lot of people I find it boring. I’m unsocial when it comes to wanting to explain things that are unimportant.”
On the media and Michael Jackson
Those days are gone when you read the newspaper and believed everything you read in it. I don’t hold it against anyone. You guys [the media] are now like UPS, like Fedex. You have to get it in time. The line between entertainment and news is completely obliterated. When I see the unfortunate coverage of Michael Jackson, I want to see it too. The funny part is, I’m a party to it. I want to see as much of it as possible, right or wrong. So I’m as much to blame. That’s how the world is now. I feel when all this is happening, it’s all fun. Let it go on. I need to do the things which are not fun, which are more important. It’s never that I’ve backed out. If people think ‘He got scared,’ good enough. These days when I meet people I think instead of saying ‘Hello’ I should say, I’m sorry.
On his chemistry with Kajol
We have no chemistry at all. It’s a misnomer! We laugh at this every time. I don’t know what chemistry is. Neither does Kajol. Neither does Karan (Johar). Unless you’re sleeping with each other, you don’t understand what chemistry is. And I don’t sleep with any of my heroines. I go to work, we have fun together, I’ve said this a million times. I think ‘chemistry’ is a term used from the outside — how it looks on the screen. I wouldn’t know, because I’m inside the screen. When I see me and Kajol in a film, I find what we’ve done personally before it comes on screen better than what comes off screen.
Sometimes I shout at her because she’s younger to me. I get very, very angry with her. If you see us together on the set and I’m shouting at her, you’ll find there is no chemistry like that!
Working with Kajol and Karan Johar
I love working with Kajol and Karan. I’ve done 65 films and not one has been done keeping in mind the expectations of what people would like to see. The idea is always that I will do something and make sure that people like it. Why would we get together 15 years later and make ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ again? One has to give us a little credit for a little bit of growing up that we have also done.
Obviously it’s not ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.’ That film was made by better-looking, younger people than us. We’ve done ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,’ ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.’ They have an inherent niceness in terms of love. This film (referring to My Name Is Khan) will have a lot of love. I only make love stories; even ‘Don’ was a love story.
On his character, Rizvan Khan in My Name Is Khan
The character I’m playing has Asperger’s, a milder form of autism. I’ve studied a lot, met a lot of people, and read a lot of books on it. When I was young, I used to work with autistic children in theater. I’ve always had this desire to do a character — it’s not a disability — I’ve always wanted to try and understand how a mind works that works differently than mine and yours. Just because we don’t understand things does not mean they’re not well. I may get sued for saying this, but I think of Asperger’s and autism as the way we’re going to evolve. The mind is going to become much more logical, less passionate and emotional.
More on the the film
The film is about the relationship between the Western world and Islam and how that has changed over the past few years. The journey of one family and how it changes because of 9/11, we touch upon that in a very unbiased and educated way. It was important to play this guy, and it was important for me, as a Muslim. I know a lot of things that I have felt sometimes, and tried to utilize that. Some of my childhood education about Islam has come in handy, too. It’s an important film and I hope people understand it and like it.
Talking of the superhero film RA 1, Khan says his shoulder continues to be a worry.
I wanted to make it, and I want to start it. Prashant (Shah, line producer for My Name Is Khan) is the producer here, and I’ve been troubling him for months now. Part of it is to be shot here. It’s a special film for me. I want to put on my tights and my kids blanket on my back. I want to do this film for my children. I’ve always wanted to make a superhero film, but I never had six-pack abs. Now that I have them, I want to do this. It’s not an animation film, as many people believe; I would like to clarify that. It’s a live action film.
I’m getting a little depressed about my injury because for me to do something physically active, such as Farah Khan’s Happy New Year, Don 2 or Ravan (RA 1) I have to be physically fit, and I don’t see that happening until about October or November. These are the three films that I will start working on as soon as I get better.”
On his life and work
I don’t work for posterity or prosperity. I work because I want to work. I just hope my kids learn from the good things that I know and not from the bad things that I have done. Hopefully, I will have a happy and healthy life. I tell my kids, remember me as someone who tried very hard.
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