Source: Brinkster.com

Year after year, through the nineties, Shah Rukh went on to grow from an actor into a star into a phenomenon: A phenomenon that made a virtue out of being plain.

In this interview Shah Rukh Khan speaks of the inevitable loss of stardom, like the inevitable loss of life. He talks of acceptance, but also of newer hopes...

You had so many people working on your first production. Was it because you wanted them to or did they offer to help out?

Actually, to be very honest, Aziz, Juhi and myself are not business-savvy. So the business angle has been looked after by Yash Johar. He is a regular producer and he has been in the industry for the last 30 years. We never had to get into the nitty-gritty of the whole thing.

     I was telling Azizji and Juhi that we must get down and start learning because we won't have Mr Johar doing this for us every time. Because this was our first film and he is a close friend, he decided to help us. Jay Mehta looked after the whole legal part of the paperwork and also banks and things like that.

     The two of them put it across to us in such a way that we just had to sign the papers, we never really looked into it. My involvement in the film was only creative. And taking some decisions, which I do normally as a star too -- like should we do the scene here or wait for the next location... I normally do a lot of post-production for my other films also, so a lot of producers and directors ask me about these things like location, sets or time constraints. One just extended that.

      Very honestly, I don't know the business aspect of film-making at all. Whenever I wanted something, I went and got the money sanctioned from Azizji and Juhi and Yash Johar. Whenever I was going over-budget, they told me not to do it. Beyond that, I also tried to keep myself in check about budgets.

But you must have realised that producing a film is risky. Why did you not decide to direct instead?

I think you need a lot more experience to become a director. And when we say we are producers, it just means we got together under a banner to make a film. I did not become a producer to fulfill a goal. We just wanted to make a film which was ours. And it was Yash Johar who really made it happen. We just have our names there.

     Besides that, there is no reason why I opted for production instead of direction. Actually, when you ask me why production, I might ask why not? My logic is, why shouldn't I produce a film? Why should anybody ask me why I wear a white shirt? Production is film-related and we wanted to bring in new technology, new equipment...

    I can't ask my producer to spend money on a camera when he signs me. I can't ask my producer to develop his film in London because I think it is better quality. There were certain aspects to film-making that I wanted to see though this film. Aziz and Juhi also believed in it. We did not do it with an outside producer because we were not sure of the budget or how saleable we were. We could not ask an outside producer to spend more than his budget because we could not guarantee that he would get his money back. Here, we knew everything and we went ahead and did it.

You have directed a lot of promos for films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Duplicate. One also hears that you write very well.

Yeah, I do write. I have done a lot of promos for films -- Duplicate, Yes Boss... I have discussed some ideas like Dil To Pagal Hai and KKHH. I have only executed Duplicate and Yes Boss and, of course, my own film. Baadshah was a film that did not work out the way I had suggested. I should have done that promo as well.

Does this mean you will direct a film some day?

I was studying Masters to be a film-maker. I was doing my mass communication in film-making. But I don't think I'll do it right now. I would like to give it some more time, maybe five or six years more. I don't think I am a good scriptwriter. I just write for myself, that's all. I have ideas, but I can't pen them down. And I don't have an idea for a film. Maybe, sometime later, I will direct something.

One did notice you had most of the people you were closely associated with helping you with PBDHH.

Yash Johar is very close to Juhi and me. I have known him for a long time now. I have done two films -- Duplicate and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai -- with him. The Johars are like family. We have been friends for the last eight-nine years. And we meet everyday, in their homes or wherever, and if anybody has a problem, we all deal with it together.

       Most of us who formed the core of this company are very close. Each one pooled in in some way. Karan (Johar) and Adi (Aditya Chopra) helped in their own ways. Jay Mehta did his bit for the company. Whoever knew us and was connected with the industry gave us the help of their expertise in whatever aspect of film-making they knew.

You must have a knack of making good friends then…

I have some very close friends. Not too many though. Most of my relationships start with business, but I guess the atmosphere that I create on the sets and the way we work with each other and relate to each other after the film is complete makes us very close friends.

     Films are a very insecure business. Sometimes they go right and sometimes they go wrong. I stand by my films. That is something that makes the producer feel very comfortable with me and, slowly, that comfort turns into friendship.

     Aziz Mirza, Juhi and her family, Yash Johar and Yash Chopra, Venus, Abbas-Mustan, Rajiv Mehra, these are the people who are very close to me. We meet each other regularly. We know each other very well. We get along well. We don't bullshit each other.

     When I first met Karan and Adi, they were not directors. My relationship has been more of an encouraging colleague because they were younger than I was. With the guys who were older than me, the relationship was that I always listened to them. So, in this way, relationships develop and friendships begins.

Is that why you only do films with a select few in the industry?

I do four films a year and I am trying to reduce that figure to three films a year now. I am going to cut down on film assignments. I sort of rotate the people I know in these two or three films I do. I know most of the people I do films with.

    I am very happy with the scripts they write for me and the films they make. So it does begin to look like I am only working with these people. But, in between, other films happen as well. Like Devdas, which I am doing with Sanjay Leela Bansali or Dil Se.., which I did with Mani Rathnam. And somebody else might come along.

     One has started out with four directors and one has been successful with them. The relationship has developed and turned into friendship. We have formed a good team -- Yash Chopra and myself, Abbas-Mustan and myself, Aziz Mirza and myself... When they think of starting a film, since they are doing well commercially and I am doing well too, it seems natural that we should do the film together.

Does this not make them professional friends instead of personal ones?

No, some of them are close personal friends too. Like Karan and Adi. Aziz Mirza is like a father.

You seem to be caught in a rut lately. You are doing the same kind of roles. Have you stopped experimenting?

I think it is the shortsightedness of the media. The lack of information and lack of knowledge of what film-making and acting is all about. Like, I find that, when you write, all your articles seem the same. Why is that? Because I believe that must be your style. So, when you see film-makers like Martin Scorcese, James Cameron, Woody Allen, Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra, there is an inherent style because of which they have become what they are today. And the style is something that doesn't go.

   Like writing. For instance, you don't write like Khalid Mohammed, you have your own way of writing. In the same way, everybody has a way of doing sequences... scenes... according to their styles. They also say that directors never change their films. They keep on making the same films again and again, which I think is not necessarily true in every case. So, when you subtly change a character, people who don't know much about acting wouldn't notice the difference.

In the last 10 years, I have done 27 films, which means three films a year. And, every time, given the set parameters of commercial cinema, my films, I feel, have been different. Yes, as an actor, I might seem repetitive, boring, absolutely crap. But the logic here is that I do my job with a lot of diligence and hard work and there is a lot of thought that has gone into it. Would you like to see it? Good. If not, then switch off the television.

How do you enact the same kind of characters in different ways?

I don't believe in method acting. I don't believe in research. I do a role the way I like it. I hear a story and I normally see myself in that story. I do four films a year, so, broadly put, one of them is a comedy, one might be dramatic, one is an action film and the fourth, a romantic one. Now, in those four roles, I try and be as different as possible in the set parameters of commercial cinema.

     You expect me to do parallel cinema, but I don't do that. I don't think any cinema which is not watched by the masses is good. I like to be watched by as many people as possible. I don't want my film to be made for a kitty party gathering or for up-market people sitting and discussing the nuances of a character when they don't even understand the film.

     I just read the script and role. And I normally have 20 different ways of doing a role. I show it and the director chooses the best one. I have never done a historical character or a round, well-etched, completely-based-on-reality kind of character. I have created characters or, to frame it better, can I say hero types? It could be a Raj, an Ajay or a Vijay, it could be Monty, Vicky or Raju. I have just created hero types and I would be lying if I said I really sit down and approach a character based on research. I don't do that.

So, if you don't believe in method acting or research, wouldn't it be difficult for you to get into the skin of the character?

When I act, I am at ease with what I am doing. Because my theatre upbringing is such that I was taught to be easy with the space provided, which actors seldom do. So I am comfortable with the space I have. Space also means your co-actors, props, where you are standing, location of the scene in the script... So once I am easy with that, then there is no problem. I just go ahead and do it.

    What comes across as easy here is not all that easy actually. I am very nervous about doing a take, I think a lot before I do a take. So many thoughts come to my mind because I don't believe that there is isolation of emotion in acting. That would be childish acting then. There have to be other things that have to work with one major emotion. Like anger has to be reflected in eyes and in other bodily actions. But I have always been like this. These things are necessary where I come from.

Since that is your approach to acting, how did you get along with Kamal Haasan who is reputed to be a very difficult director?

I think Mr Kamal Haasan gave me an immense amount of respect by asking me to do this special appearance in his film. And I had no difficulty in doing a film with him. He has been very nice to me. And it has been nice to be with him, next to him...

    I sort of hope some of his acting talent rub off on me. I really think he is one of most wonderful actors in the world. And he is a very easy-going person. In fact, we even became friends by the end of the film. Like I said earlier, I form relationships. One of my new ones is with Mr Kamal Haasan.

Why did you accept Hey! Ram? Was it because of the character or because of Kamal Hassan?

I have chosen roles based on the people I was going to work with. Because, right now, the process of making a film is what I enjoy the most. The end result is also important because it does hurt when a film doesn't do well. But, for the last couple of years, I have been choosing films on the basis of who is directing it.

     Are these interesting people? Educated? Are they good film-makers? Do they believe in cinema? I think there is no one who believes in cinema more than Kamal Haasan. So I didn't even hear what I was going to do in the film. I just told them I will do it. And this film is bilingual. So he made me learn Tamil, which I wouldn't have done for anybody else.

Did you ever imagine you would get this kind of adulation?

I know the job I am doing. I know a bit of the craft of what I am doing. I have done theatre for some time. I have been an avid watcher of Hindi films. I am not a good dancer. I am not a good fighter, neither am I a good looker. But I always thought I would be able to act out scenes in a different way. At this point of time, I think, in the last five years at least, I have been able to achieve at least 10 to 15 per cent of what I thought I could do.

    I was quite popular when I did Fauji and other television serials, but this kind of adulation, especially in the last couple of years, is much beyond what I ever imagined or what I think I deserve. I think it is the goodness of the audience or blessings of God or my mother looking after me. It cannot be talent because there are more talented and hardworking people. But the kind of so-called superstardom I have had for the past three years -- I have been successful since I entered this industry -- the love and the adulation that the audience gave me, is much more than what I deserve. And that's honest.

How do you deal with it?

That doesn't happen every time. But the scary part of the adulation is that it will go away. Not the fact that your shirt is torn off you. Getting pushed or having people running after you is not scary. That all this will go away is. Dealing with this is simple because I never looked at myself as a star. I never expected it and I still don't believe that I have it. It's one of the philosophies I have always followed.

    Once you learn to accept a truth or a lie, it ceases to exist. So, if I accept that I have a fat nose, it will stop bothering me. If I accept the fact that I am a big star, it will vanish. So I have been working just like that since I entered the industry and I haven't thought of anything.

   Things have been happening too fast. I have no time for retrospect or nostalgia. I don't have time for thinking of the past or planning for the future. In the scheme of things right now, I don't even know how far I have travelled as a star or how far I am willing to go or how far I will go. I just keep on doing my job, that's all.

What do you make of the comparison between you and Amitabh Bachchan?

That kind of comparison is wrong and I am not being humble about this. Because the fact remains that he is still as popular as a younger person. For me, this could be just a fad or a fashion or plain lucky or fantastic or whatever reasons are attributed to my success. But, with him, he has been here for 30 years and that speaks volumes for the kind of legendary fame and the immense amount of talent he has.

      I am working with him now and one gets to learn a lot by hearing about what he has gone through and the focus that he has. I don't think I have even half the focus that he has. At this age, to be focussed like that and that too after being the legend he is...! I think he is arguably the only legendary star. He is definitely my star. I don't think any kind of comparison is possible till I last that long.

Does stardom make you feel insecure?

So far I haven't been given any reason to feel insecure. I have been fortunate enough to be doing well and still going up and up. But one knows realistically that one has to go down and one also knows philosophically that success never lasts. But one also knows that, when this happens, one is shattered and one would like to avoid it.

   Everyone knows we are going to die, but we don't spend our lives thinking that we are going to die. This must be God's way of making you feel secure. Some things that are going to hurt you are always at the back of your mind. They don't ever come up front at all. Yes, I would be scared if I sat down and thought about it.