Shah Rukh Khan: “I am of the opinion that films are not as important as my own life”

By Jyothi Venkatesh

His birthday falls on November 2 this year when he turns 59. I met Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of his TV serial CIRCUS for the first time way back in 1989 in Pune, when he was a raw newcomer whose trump card was his confidence in himself. On the sets, where I was the only journalist who had gone to cover the shooting, Shah Rukh came up to me when he observed me from morning till noon and asked me if I also drank. When I said yes, he asked me if I could join him in the evening in his hotel room. Though I found it odd that a rank newcomer had dared to ask a senior journalist like me so bluntly, his sincerity impressed me and I said yes.

In the evening after pack-up, the other actors on the sets who knew me well, like Avtar Gill, Anjan Srivastava, Dilip Dhawan, etc asked me to join them in their hotel for drinks and dinner but I excused myself and told them I was already committed to the new actor Shah Rukh Khan but they mocked at me and told me that Shah Rukh will only offer rum to me and not whisky but I steadfastly refused to ditch him and went with him and like they said, Shah Rukh offered me only rum.

Believe it or not, Shah Rukh Khan does not consider himself a megastar even though the box office says otherwise. “I am not a star. Not yet”, he exclaims. He has been unable to reconcile himself to the reality that he is a star. It was Aziz Mirza’s Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman for which he had faced the camera for the first time, but Deewana was the first film of his to be released. And yet the middle-aged actor asserts that he neither liked Deewana nor his performance in it.

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As I said, Shah Rukh Khan does not mind calling a spade a spade. “I am not at all proud to have begun my career with a melodrama like Deewana. I was not given the script in advance. What I was narrated and what was ultimately shot were poles apart. I was not happy with the way my character had developed in the plot. I was made to overact. In the first place I had taken up the offer only because I was impressed when the director Raj Kanwar came to Delhi from Mumbai and spent four days in Delhi just to narrate the subject”

Among the films in which Shah Rukh Khan has worked are Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa directed by Kundan Shah with Suchuitra Krishnamoorthy as the heroine, Raakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun with Salman Khan, Mamta Kulkarni and Kajol, Yash Chopra’s Darr with Sunny Deol and Juhi Chawla, Rahul Rawail’s Anjaam with Madhuri Dixit and Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar with Shilpa Shetty and Kajol as his leading ladies. In both Baazigar and Anjaam, he is essaying negative roles. “Yes. I am keen on doing negative roles. Why should I not try to avoid being typecast?”

Now that Shah Rukh Khan is a star in demand, will he or won’t he work in a TV serial? When asked, he promptly said, “I will definitely work because, after all, it was a TV serial called Dil Dariya directed by Lekh Tandon which gave me a break in films.”

His favourite actress is neither Sridevi nor Madhuri but Rekha. “I used to adore her till Mr Natwarlal in which she was great and delightful. However, after Mr Natwarlal, Rekha started repeating herself in film after film. Either she imitates Amitabh Bachchan like in Khoobsoorat or herself. In her earlier films, I think Rekha used to ape Saira Banu as far as screaming and screeching and the way of dialogue delivery was concerned.”

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Given the choice, Shah Rukh says that he would rather see an Amitabh Bachchan starrer than a Shah Rukh Khan starrer. “Look here. I do not think that girls are going gaga over me in the first place. I just do not understand why people are flocking to see my films. I was forced into film acting although I did not want to, but because my mother died and I wanted a change of environment. My father had died earlier and every site in Delhi reminded me of my mum. It was at this juncture that Azizbhai offered to cast me in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and I grabbed it.”

Shah Rukh Khan says that he is not at all a switch-on switch-off actor. “It is wrong to assume that I am. I need at least three to four minutes to prepare myself for a serious role before I give my shot. And this is because I feel that my plus point is my intensity. I am natural because I can cry without glycerine. My stint with the theatre has taught me fine art.”

How does he feel having made his transition from the small screen to the big screen without having had to struggle? “It is true that I did not have to struggle to get a break in films. But I have had my quota of struggle, but of a different kind. When I was working in the serial Fauji for Col Kapoor, several actors used to ditch him and go down to Mumbai. I find them languishing for work in studios. Why? It is only because I did not take my work in Fauji lightly. It is not enough to have talent or good looks. You should also be sincere to your profession.”

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Shah Rukh Khan has no hang-ups about working with big directors but says that he will be the last person to go to a big filmmaker and tell him that he wants to work with him. It is not because I am arrogant but I do not seek roles.”

Shah Rukh Khan is indeed a rebel ‘Khan’ with a difference. Whoever the producer or director may be, he insists on being shown the script in advance. “Whether it is Manmohan Desai or Raj Kanwar, I ask for the script in advance because it is the base on which an actor has got to build his performance. I am sure Manji did not like it a wee bit when I asked for the script but took over the job of narrating it to me from Ketan. Manji narrated the script so passionately. Something which he told me he had never done even with Amitabh Bachchan.”

One is startled when he says that he is very uncomfortable in romantic roles. “I always tend to visualize Dharamji when I do a romantic scene. Give me an intense or sexual role and I am game. I was very uncomfortable doing the romantic scenes with Urmila Matondkar in Chamatkar. I do not know how the hell I managed to do those awkward scenes.”

Shah Rukh had even refused to shoot for the climax of Deewana. “I told Raj Kanwar to make the climax of Deewana logical. From where did Rishi Kapoor get the revolver? Finally, they changed the climax and shot it after a few days.”

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Shah Rukh Khan confesses that at times he does ape Dilip Kumar or for that matter Amitabh Bachchan. “It is not something which I do consciously. I have grown up watching Dilip Saab and Amitabh Bachchan. At times I remember them while performing.”

The other day dance director Saroj Khan pulled me up while she was choreographing a dance number for me and said that I was taking my steps exactly like Rajesh Khanna used to do once. These are my limitations.”

Shah Rukh feels he should have got married even earlier. Why the hell would it bother my producers if I got married? I have no father, no mother. I had turned down many offers to act in films when my mother was alive because I did not want to leave Delhi and my mother.”

Shah Rukh dotes on his darling wife Gauri. According to him, Gauri is into aerobics, dancing, social work, etc. “Gauri has a large circle of friends and is in fact, more popular than even me. I am so dependent on her that if she is not in town, I often go hungry. I know cooking to the extent of making rice, an omelet, or boiling eggs but I do not dare to go to the kitchen in Gauri’s absence. Gauri is the only woman who I love dearly. I cannot even think of another woman; however beautiful she may be. I have done everything in life except womanizing and drinking.”

Shah Rukh continues. “My priority in life is as follows. My dates, the film script, and then the money. I know no one will pay me what I ask just blindly. I also know that if I ask for 22 lakhs, at least I will get 18 lakhs. I also make it very clear to my producers that I will not shoot on Sundays because that is the only day I have reserved exclusively for Gauri. I do not want to sign films left right and centre, because I am of the opinion that films are not as important as my own life”.