me that I can pay later…which is very strange. It’s a bit like a dream which I feel like I’ll wake up from and suddenly find myself back in my house, which is C7-223 SDA – a small DDA flat. I took my kids there the other day and left a letter for the person staying there. I don’t know if he’d believe that I had come. Then there’s the Deer Park… there are so many places in Delhi I remember but they’re none are landmarks.
I remember when a few friends launched a company called Airtel, and made me their brand ambassador. It was a small company in Delhi which sold small telephones. They said, “Shahrukh hum kisi ko nahin jaante, abhi tu actor ban gaya hai, so you be the brand ambassador.” (Shahrukh we don’t know anyone, and now that you’ve become an actor, please be our brand ambassador). And now Airtel is so big.
said, “Tumhe dance nahin aata hai, par tumhe feel aata hai dance ka.” (You don’t know how to dance but you’ve got the feel for it.) I met some nice people then who were very kind to me. I cannot express enough gratitude for their kindness. G.P. Sippy looked at me and said, “Your hair is like a bear,” and then cast me as a hero in his film. As it was my first film, I didn’t know the importance but in the film industry it was like “wow.” Star sons don’t get launches like that.
People like Hema Malini and Rakesh Roshan who are my friends now were so good to me when I came in. They gave me the impression that I was family. I lost my mom and dad and my sister fell sick and for a while I thought I had no family left. In about three months in the film industry here, I was made
Tell us about your transition from that reality into a world of cinema, to where you are today…
It’s the same, it’s transient and it’ll move on. When you see me on television and all, I don’t speak my heart out because people don’t want to hear that, they ask you stupid questions. Like “How is Katrina Kaif, or are you seeing Priyanka Chopra?” Which are stupid nonsensical things, and that irks me. Is this what you’d want to know from a person who has worked for twenty years? Now everybody’s life is boring, and you don’t need to know my life, but if you have taken some time out to know me, find a part of me that might help a kid to understand life better, or understand cinema better.
Did you always know that?
No. I wanted to be a sportsman, and then my parents died. Some people in the industry told me that I could never be a film actor. I work with those people now and I have no ego about it. I am well educated; I have done my BA and my Masters. I was a good student and I think I could have been good at most things I did. But I became an actor.
I remember this lady – Saroj Khan – who was the senior most choreographer, and she
You know for us, from outside it’s a whole
different story that we get to hear…
I know. And sometimes I don’t mind letting people believe that. I am an actor. You think that all I stand for is Chammak Challo? I’ll show you Chammak Challo! It’s okay, it’s easier for me to be Chammak Challo, it’s difficult for me to be me. The whole day I am working in front of a camera, I don’t know what is me. How am I real?
Do you try and make time for yourself?
I am always with myself. I don’t do anything else. I am not a very social person, not because of any other reason but the fact that I am awkward with people. It’s very strange. I do a job of entertaining millions of people, but I am completely ill-at-ease with people.
I am courteous but I am not very talkative or anything. The easy part for me is that 90 percent of the people like to talk to me about films, and that’s what I do, so I can do it. But if I was a regular guy you had to meet in the evening, I am very boring and shabby…
What is the real SRK brand?
How do you work so hard?
My 73rd film is going to release now; I have worked relentlessly for 20 years. I work for 16-18 hours a day. I like it. I really like it. My wife asks me all the time how I do this every morning. And I say, “I love it.” I love acting and it’s as simple as that. And I don’t think I'm an actor because I know acting; I think I'm an actor because, that’s what I was meant to be. That’s it. This is all I know.
you can’t act, they’ll employ you. They find something nice about you, something positive in you.
to feel that this whole film industry was waiting for a son. They made me feel so wonderful. I know people from the outside think that there is only drinking and partying and womanising in the industry but it’s not like that. This industry is very secular.
You bring a lot of energy and talent to
your work. You have gained a lot from
the industry?
I might have, but then I am not the only guy who has really gained from the film industry. There are big stars who are perhaps not the best actors, and you wonder whether talent is everything. But you can’t question the fact that here is a job company that allows everyone to come and be themselves and gives them an opportunity. In the film industry even if
Brand I wouldn’t know. A lot of titles are given to people to oversimplify what they must be like. I like it – there’s ‘King Khan,’ there’s Baadshah, and one of them is also the ‘SRK Brand.’ To me it’s more like a title than me being an actual brand. Maybe I was one of the first guys who started advertising on a large scale. I have a very simple logic – I do only those films which I really want to do, I never do a film for any other reason. Everything else that I do, like for example, if I need a car, I’ll go dance somewhere and make the money. I’ll never take a car because I am doing a film. In fact I never charge for my films… very few people know that. So all these star fees that get written about me is all crap. I don’t charge for my films.
You also do a lot of philanthropic work that not many people are aware of…
Yes, I do exactly what I feel like. There’s no organisation involved. If I feel like doing something for someone, then I just ask my people to call them and give them whatever money they require but I make sure that they don’t know it came from me. I don’t want them to thank me. In Islam if you want to do something for someone, you don’t tell them. You don’t carry any of the peripherals of your