“I'm going to make a great product, which lots of people are going to like.” Shah Rukh Khan opened up about his films, fans and more in this “most honest” chat with journalist Faye D’Souza.
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00:00I don't think I need to be nervous. I think they're going to be all super hit films.
00:04Now, I would like to explain the lack of arrogance in this statement.
00:26Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Faye D'Souza.
00:31You have three big films in the pipeline right now.
00:34After a long break, I know that your fans and your audience have desperately missed you.
00:39Does the release still make you nervous?
00:42You know, people think I'm pompous if I answer it the way I would like to answer it honestly.
00:48But because I promise, because you're doing the interview, I'm going to be honest.
00:52I don't think I need to be nervous. I think they're going to be all super hit films.
00:58Now, I would like to explain the lack of arrogance in this statement.
01:03That's the belief I sleep with. That's the belief I wake up with.
01:08That's the belief that makes me at the age of 57 go and do stunts, jump, work 18 hours a day.
01:15Because if I did not have that belief that at the end of it all I'm going to make a great product
01:20which lots of people are going to like, I would not be able to do it.
01:23So it's not an arrogant statement. This is what I believe as I sit here.
01:27That I'm not nervous. I think they're wonderful films.
01:30And it's a childlike belief.
01:34That look, I've prepared my best. I've done my best. I'm going to pass with flying colors.
01:38It's happened to lots of us, at least to me when I was a young kid.
01:42I remember acing my mathematics exam. I did very well.
01:47And I came back and in the results I got 3 out of 100.
01:51But I thought I'd really done well.
01:53Sometimes that happens with movies also. I do make a zero.
01:58Sometimes what I've put in comes to effort, comes to four and becomes a Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
02:08So I don't know how to control it. I have to just believe it.
02:11And no, I'm not nervous at all. I'm actually very excited if I may take my name in third person
02:17to see Shah Rukh Khan on screen again.
02:20You have changed culture in India by telling stories that has raised a generation.
02:28You taught us how to be gentle, how to be in love.
02:31And you taught us a togetherness.
02:34Going forward now, as you chart out the rest of your career, what stories are you hoping to tell?
02:43Actually, you know when you start your journey in any profession,
02:48mine got to be chosen to be storytelling.
02:52You really don't have a plan in your head.
02:55I'll be honest and very candid because I'm genuinely thrilled that Faye is speaking with me.
03:01And I would not try to put on any of the superstar intellect and convolute my answers.
03:08I'll keep it very simple that I had no idea what story I want to tell.
03:14After 32 years of actively working day in and day out on cinema,
03:19I still believe that I should try to go back to that same stage
03:23where I was just excited by someone telling me,
03:26you have to do this. And I'm like, okay, let's go and do this.
03:30There was no specific story I want to tell.
03:33As a matter of fact, I feel that the kind of cinema I do
03:37is meant for everyone to enjoy and like and dislike or not learn too much from it.
03:44I'm sorry. I won't make cinema more intense than that.
03:48I've always said, you know, messages are for the postal service.
03:52It's not for films. It should be entertaining.
03:55And I think a little bit of every actor's or creative person's personality
03:59creeps into the story you are telling.
04:02So I think there are three, four things I believe I am.
04:05I think I'm gentle kind. I'm a little quirky.
04:10There's a lot of passion and a bit of madness.
04:13And it all will transcend into some of the roles that I've done.
04:17It could be a Devdas. It could be the killer in Bazigar.
04:20It could be the teacher in Dear Zindagi.
04:22It could be fan, the passionate mad person.
04:25So I think it creeps into my personality or the story that I am learning from
04:30or the story that I have experienced in my life.
04:33I think transcends to the audience, moves on to the audience through my eyes and actions
04:37and perhaps the way I essay a role.
04:40I would like to tell only those stories which a lot of people would like to hear,
04:46which does not make it populist,
04:48which does not make it that, oh, I'll just say the stories which people want to know.
04:52There are very many people in this world
04:55and as many people as there are, there are that many stories.
04:58So if I start off with, okay, I want to tell the story of every person in this room,
05:02I think I have to live another 150 years.
05:05I don't want to just tell my story.
05:07I want to tell the stories that people want to hear.
05:09So anything, when I was flying down here,
05:12I told my whole team that I saw John Wick's trailer.
05:17Guys, John Wick 4 is going to come out.
05:20So I wore a black suit. Today I want to be John Wick.
05:24So I've been childlike like that about telling the stories
05:27and whatever story there is, you know,
05:29somebody comes up and says, tell the story of a flying man.
05:32Okay, I'll be Ravan.
05:34Tell me the story of a madman.
05:37Okay, I'll be Fan.
05:38Tell me a story of an alcoholic man.
05:40Yeah, I'll be a Devdas.
05:41Tell me a story of a good man.
05:44I can be Rahul and Raj as many times as you tell me.
05:50So yeah, whatever story people want to hear, I'd like to tell that story.
05:54You've got fans right now all over the world.
05:58Does it get tiring or do you love it?
06:01I think it's the greatest feeling a human being can have
06:05that people love you so much.
06:07I know lots of them like me for an X film or a Y film or a Z film.
06:13But sometimes when I meet all of them, when I can meet all of them,
06:18I sense that this love is a little beyond my work.
06:22This has crossed boundaries of, oh, we like him for having done this film.
06:27You know, there is a personal attachment to me.
06:30And here are people like Shruthi or lots of them here who I don't know by name
06:35who may never have seen me live, who may never meet me,
06:39but there is this strange love and connection they have with me.
06:42And that connection, that love is what...
06:46So there are days when I'm very depressed.
06:48There are days when I'm very tired.
06:49There are days when I'm like... like everybody has days.
06:52And I just need to go outside my house
06:55and know there are 30, 40, 50 people who are loving me absolutely
06:59without anything required in return.
07:03It is selfless.
07:04It is beautiful.
07:05It's nice.
07:06I know I have a lovely family.
07:07I spend time with them.
07:08But whenever I'm low, whenever I'm down,
07:11I just need to go out and there's a sea of people
07:14and I know, my God, this is good.
07:15I'm going to work harder.
07:16I'll be better.
07:17I'll make sure this happiness that they give me, I can give it back.
07:21So no, it never gets tiring at all.
07:23I mean, more the merrier.
07:25Not for any commercial reason.
07:28But just so that I can touch everybody's life.
07:31I'm an entertainer.
07:32I would like to make everybody happy who's come in touch with me.
07:35I'm sure some of them have stood in queues.
07:37They've come here.
07:38I'm not being patronizing.
07:39But I'd like them to get back home and say,
07:41it was fun to see Shah Rukh Khan today.