Shah Rukh Khan

In the concluding part of the interview, SRK talks about his busy schedule, his smoking habits and much more to Savera R Someshwar and Saisuresh Sivaswamy.

You underplayed your role in Swades.

I was pleasantly surprised that there's a whole area of acting where I can underplay, and people haven't seen that and like that a lot. I am too energetic to really go into serious acting just now, and I've kept that for when I'm 55, you know, when I'm grey and I can't move fast enough. Then I'll do serious acting like in Swades. But I know there's a whole area that is waiting for me to do, I can do subtle, underplayed, easy-going acting in films if it demands.

To tell you honestly, I never expected people to like me in Swades as much as they did, it sounds pompous, but a lot of people, a lot of educated, serious-minded IIT-Kharagpur types like it, they say arre oh...

We loved it too...

Yes, I know, your name is Sai, and Sai will like it. You seem like an intellectual. So all the intellectuals liked it. Which is nice, I got messages from people who said that you know, we never liked you as an actor but in Swades we started liking you. Which is nice.

There's a reason for doing everything, and all the reasons are not for above 100-crore hits. And I think if I don't do it now, at the age of 40 plus, I'll never do it. A lot of my friends turn around and say don't do a Paheli, don't do a Swades, don't do a Chak De India... Just always do films like Krrish, Don and Dhoom. But sometimes I want my kids to take me seriously. Otherwise, they will think ke Dad was only about fun and games.

How do you handle setbacks?

If your expectations are real, there are no setbacks. If you are going to have unreal expectations from life or work, there will be setbacks. I mean, you will think they are setbacks. I never ever really think anything fails. Especially in creative work, you can't fail. It's a very strange word you know because the dichotomy of cinema is that supposedly it's a creative art form. And it is judged and gauged and sort of calculated by the parameter of money and ticket sales. It's a very strange thing, you say art is done in solitude, while cinema is an art form which is supposed to be public opinion. It's a dichotomy in itself.

There was a friend of mine who used to tell me, whenever you do a film do ek dhan ke liye, which is to make money. Do ek man ke liye, which is what you feel about, and do ek, just fun ke liye. Do it just for a lark. So if your expectations from a film is about dhan, and if it doesn't get you the dhan, then it's a failure. If it is about fun and it doesn't give you fun, then it's a failure. And if it's about man, and it doesn't satisfy you, then it's a failure.

I think Ashutosh's dad was very satisfied we did Swades, so it's okay. As long as he's happy and that's what we did it for. The hassle is if we start losing sight of that and start thinking Oh god, Swades should be a Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. Then you are being foolish.

Swades was a comment and a good one. It was a tad too long. I felt that it should have been about 20 minutes shorter but Ashutosh makes long films. You can't question him on that, like almost three and a half hours, but it says something nice. It will be one of the things I will hold very dear to my career. I am making a little office for myself, and Swades will find a place... Oh, I got all the awards for that, so I am very happy with it.

I keep reading it, but you know, in a strange sense just being a movie actor has made me stand for a lot of values and iconic things. And one of the things that I suddenly stand for is that I am a Muslim in a Hindu country. And I suddenly realise that nobody has ever made me feel that way. So can I tell people that? Can I explain that to people that I am a Muslim in a country called India, and it's not just a Hindu country or something. We've never been made to feel this is a Hindu country. Which means we are amazingly secular. And if I feel like that in this country, then I think Islamic people should feel that way in every country.

Audio: Listen to SRK's message to the youth

And why don't they?

If some person is using the name of Islam and confusing it with jihad, I think one needs to understand the meaning of jihad. And jihad means overcoming your own frailties, your own streak of violence, and I wanted to understand all that. I've read the Quran, I've read the Bhagwat Gita, I've read the Mahabharata. But I've understood the essence that jihad is not about killing other people, jihad is about killing the badness in you. It's an emotional war, and when people use it for a physical or material war then it's a wrong use of term. The earlier the world understands that, the better.

I mean, there's already enough problems from global warming to tsunami to economic breakdown to be bothered about a small little word which you are misinterpreting. And it's not nice to be frisked at an American airport because somebody is misrepresenting your religion. People should realise that Islam, like Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism, is about being kind.

I am too small to dream for something so big. If all of us, in our own capacities, keep doing the right things, India will be dream-like. I don't think I am in any position, and I find it very strange when lot of people through SMSes and interviews talk about what I think my country should be like.

So if you can tell me that what you are going to be like tomorrow and stick to it, then our country will be like that tomorrow. That's the micro aspect of it. Collectively, if all the one billion people start thinking like that, what one person says doesn't make a difference, we just need to do it.

Given your large appeal, do you ever see yourself entering politics?

Given my large appeal is the reason I will never enter politics.

Why, do you think politics is a bad word?

No, no, it is not that, I think appealing people should be movie actors, should not be politicians.

Do you see yourself as an entertainer or as a movie actor?

I call myself a performer. I undermine my own position because in spite of people thinking I am arrogant, I like to tell you there's no magic to being an actor, a movie star, King Khan or Badhah or performer or an entertainer. I do a job, and it's just that. If I started talking seriously about what I do, people will take me more seriously. But the truth of the matter is that I do a job like everyone else does.

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Chak De India

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