‘I Don’t Like To Play Characters Which Demean Women’

‘I’ve
been
a
villain,
I’ve
been
a
champ,
I’ve
been
a
superhero,
I’ve
been
a
zero,
I’ve
been
a
rejected
fan,
and
I’ve
been
a
very,
very
resilient
lover.’

Shah
Rukh
Khan
has
been
honoured
with
a
Lifetime
Achievement
award,
the
Pardo
alla
Carriera
or
Career
Leopard,
at
the
77th
Locarno
Film
Festival.

His
conversation
with
Festival
Director
Giona
A
Nazzaro
won
him
more
hearts,
as
he
opened
up
about
his
career
and
achievements
as
well
as
his
next
film,

King,
directed
by
Sujoy
Ghosh.

“There
are
certain
kinds
of
films
that
I
want
to
do,
maybe
it’s
more
age-centric,”
SRK
says.

“I
want
to
try
something…
for
six-seven
years
I’ve
been
thinking
about
it
and
I
mentioned
it
to
Sujoy
one
day.
He
works
with
us
at
our
office,
he’s
made
some
films
for
us.
He
says,
Sir,
I
have
a
subject.”

SRK
says
he
will
have
to
start
working
on
it:
“I
have
to
lose
some
weight,
do
some
stretching.”

Reportedly,
the
film
will
also
star
daughter,
Suhana
Khan.

Shah
Rukh,
who
has
done
so
much
action
in
his
career,
still
finds
it
challenging
and
exhausting.

“Action
is
difficult.
You
have
to
practice
it,
learn
it
and
doubles
are
doing
some
of
the
dangerous
stunts.
I
have
some
wonderful
guys
but
80
per
cent,
you
have
to
finally
do
it
yourself
if
you
have
to
sell
it
truthfully.
Otherwise,
it
doesn’t
look
right.
It’s
the
worst
thing
to
see
me
on
sets
after
action,”
he
says.

“I
believe
cinema
has
been
the
most
profound
and
influential
artistic
medium
of
our
age.
I’ve
had
the
privilege
of
being
part
of
this
for
many
years,
and
this
journey
has
taught
me
a
few
lessons,”
SRK
says.

“Art
is
the
act
of
affirming
life
above
all.
It
goes
beyond
every
man-made
boundary
into
a
space
of
liberation.
It
need
not
be
political.
It
need
not
be
polemical.
It
need
not
sermonise.
It
need
not
be
intellectualised.
It
need
not
moralise.

“Art
and
cinema
only
need
to
say
what
it
feels
from
the
heart,
to
express
its
truth.
And
that,
to
me,
is
the
biggest
creativity,
honestly.”

Reflecting
on
his
35-year
career
in
the
film
industry,
SRK
touched
on
the
diverse
roles
he
has
played:
“I’ve
been
a
villain,
I’ve
been
a
champ,
I’ve
been
a
superhero,
I’ve
been
a
zero,
I’ve
been
a
rejected
fan,
and
I’ve
been
a
very,
very
resilient
lover.”

“With
the
promise
that
awards
like
this
encourage
me
to
keep
on
trying
to
embody
all
the
facets
of
life,
to
embody
all
the
emotions,
and
to
try
to
give
that
one
more
take,
one
more
shot,
one
more
emotion,
and
hopefully,
a
little
bit
of
love,
so
that
all
of
you
feel
a
little
joyful,”
he
says.

As
part
of
the
Locarno
tribute,
the
festival
is
screening
Khan’s
2002
hit

Devdas,
directed
by
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali.

“It’s
a
very
special
film,”
Shah
Rukh
says.

“Devdas
was
the
movie
that
mother
loved
watching,
my
dad
also
used
to
talk
about
it.
It’s
one
of
the
greatest
classic
films
with
Dilip
Kumar.
It’s
been
remade
in
the
country
many
times
and
it’s
about
a
guy
who’s
an
alcoholic,
doesn’t
commit
to
a
girl,
goes
away.

“I
could
not
find
any
essence
in
it
at
my
age.
Many
years
later,
when
Mr
Sanjay
Leela
Bansali,
who
I
think
is
one
of
the
most
talented
film-makers
of
our
times,
he
came
down
and
he
said,
‘I
want
you
to
do
Devdas’.”

SRK
revealed
that
his
initial
reaction
was
a
no
to
the
role.

“I
said,
no,
he’s
a
loser,
an
alcoholic.
I’m
too
cool
to
be
Devdas!”
he
exclaims.

“So
it
kind
of
petered
out,
and
then
before
leaving,
he
just
said
one
thing,
which
still
sticks
with
me.
He
said,
‘I’ll
not
make
this
film
if
not
with
you,
because
your
eyes
are
like
Devdas.’
So
I
said,
okay.

“He
said,
‘I
would
not
cast
anyone.’
And
for
a
year
he
didn’t.

“Then
we
met
again,
and
I
said,
‘Okay,
if
you
can’t
find
eyes
like
mine,
I’ll
do
the
film.
Again,
I
was
privileged
to
work
with
Aishwarya
Rai
and
Madhuri
Dixit,
Jackie
Shroff.
It
was
one
of
the
most
wonderful
experiences
of
my
life
to
play
that
character.”

Shah
Rukh
adds
that
he
doesn’t
want
anyone
to
look
up
to
Devdas,
even
though
the
enactment
was
nice.

“I
don’t
like
to
play
characters
which
demean
women,”
he
explains.

“I’ll
be
honest.
I
didn’t
want
him
to
be
liked
for
the
reason
in
the
film
that
he,
you
know,
sort
of,
this
is
a
woman
and
doesn’t
commit
to
her.
I
wanted
him
to
come
across
as
a
person
who’s
a
bit
of
a
spineless
person.
It’s
not
somebody
you
should
look
up
to.
Yes,
enactment
might
be
nice.
I
think
Bhansali
made
the
film
really
beautifully.
You
get
taken
in
by
the
drama
and
everybody
will
enjoy
it
when
they
see
it.
I
don’t
think
anybody
wants
to
be
Devdas.
It’s
enjoyable
but
it’s
not
the
character
that
you
take
back
home.”

Khan
shares
that
it
was
his
mum,
who
took
him
to
watch
his
first
Hindi
film
in
a
theatre:
Yash
Chopra’s
1973
thriller,

Joshila.

“In
school,
Hindi
was
not
my
strongest
point.
My
mom
said,
‘I’ll
take
you
to
a
movie
hall
to
watch
a
film
if
you
get
10
on
10
in
Hindi
dictation’.
I
think
I
copied
one
answer
from
a
friend
but
I
did
get
10
on
10,
and
then
my
mother
took
me
to
watch
a
film
in
a
theatre
for
the
first
time.

“It
was

Joshila,
the
director
of
which
I
did
the
maximum
number
of
films
later
on
in
life:
Mr
Yash
Chopra.
I’m
sitting
here
in
Locarno,
Switzerland
because
of
him,
because
of
that
movie
I
saw,”
he
adds.

SRK
shares
his
earliest
memories
of
cinema:
“We
had
what
was
known
as
a
video
cassette
recorder…
it
was
a
big
thing
to
own
one.”

“My
mother’s
sister
was
very
rich,
so
she
gifted
us
one.”

The
actor
described
watching
films
while
‘pressing’
his
mother’s
feet.

After
his
parents
died,
he
decided
to
leave
his
hometown
Delhi
and
come
to
Mumbai.

“I
thought
I’ll
get
some
roles.
Then
I
thought
I’ll
work
in
front
of
the
television
and
then
come
into
films…
one
thing
led
to
the
other.
I
came
to
Mumbai
for
a
year
in
1990
and
said,
‘I’ll
work
for
a
year…
buy
myself
a
house,
and
then
go
back
and
become
a
scientist
or
a
mass
communication
journalist.
I
haven’t
gone
back
yet,”
he
says.

Shah
Rukh
also
shared
his
thoughts
on
south
cinema.

“If
you
ask
me
honestly,
to
regionalise
Indian
cinema
is
wrong,”
he
says.

“It’s
just
that
our
country
is
so
vast
that
we
don’t
have
different
dialects
across
the
nation,
we
have
languages
across
the
nation.
So
there
is
Tamil,
Telugu,
Hindi,
Gujarati,
Marathi,
Bengali…
there
are
so
many
languages.
For
me,
the
greatest
story-telling
parts
of
India,
if
I
could
say
this,
is
South
Indian
parts.
They
have
some
outstanding
story-telling.

“Malayalam
cinema,
Telugu
cinema,
Tamil
cinema
have
some
of
the
greatest
superstars
of
our
country.
Recently,
some
huge
hits,
including

Jawan,
RRR
and

Baahubali,
everybody
started
noticing
it.
But
cinematically
and
technically,
South
cinema
is
really,
really
fantastic,”
he
states.

King
Khan
reveals
it
was
his
desire
to
work
in
the
South
cinema
after
working
in
Mani
Ratnam’s

Dil
Se..

“After
having
worked
with
Mani
Ratnam
in

Dil
Se…,
it
was
a
desire
to
work
in
a
south
genre
film,”
he
says.

“Each
area,
every
person
has
a
different
take
on
telling
a
story,
South
has
a
specific
one,
larger-than-life,
robust,
lots
of
music
going
on.
They
love
their
heroes
to
be
larger-than-life.
I
have
never
done
a
film
like
that.
I
would
take
my
kids
and
say
please
see,
am
I
looking
okay
because
I
would
just
be
clapping
my
hands
and
it
would
be
as
if
that’s
the
greatest
moment
in
the
history
of
mankind.”

Praising
his

Jawan
Director
Atlee,
SRK
shared
a
sweet
moment
when
the
former
named
his
son
after
Khan’s
father.

“Atlee,
who’s
a
wonderful
guy,
incidentally
had
a
baby
while
we
were
making
the
film.
Meer,
whom
he
named
after
my
father,
which
very
sweet.
We
made
most
of
the
film
just
shaking
our
hands
and
having
a
great
time
over

idli
dosa
and
some
chili
chicken.
I
think
it’s
one
of
the
first
fusions
of
Hindi
and
South
Indian
cinema,
which
transcended
all
kind
of
boundaries,
did
really
good
business
and
was
really
loved
across
the
nation.

Jawan
was
a
great
experience
for
me.”

SRK
spoke
about
his
favourite
actor,
Jackie
Chan
and
said
that
when
his
son
Aryan
was
born,
he
felt
that
he
looked
like
the

Drunken
Master
star.

“If
I
had
to
count
my
favourite
actors
of
all
time,
Mr
Jackie
Chan
will
be
right
up
there.
He’s
funny,
physically
amazing
and
enacts
well.
He
continues
to
inspire
me.
When
my
son,
Aryan,
was
born,
I
felt
he
looked
like
Jackie
Chan,”
he
says.

SRK
recalls
his
meeting
with
him:
“Many
years
later,
like
three-four
years
ago,
I
had
the
privilege
of
meeting
him
in
Saudi
Arabia.
He
was
as
sweet
and
humble
as
I
expected
him
to
be.
If
he
ever
sees
the
interview,
he
promised
to
open
a
Chinese
restaurant
in
partnership.”

Photographs
curated
by
Manisha
Kotian/Rediff.com