Shah Rukh Khan on his connection with the fairer sex and his dream of making the world’s greatest studio in Mumbai
Shah Rukh Khan has been super successful in every venture that he has dipped a toe in. His charm on screen and off it is legendary. He talks about his admiration for the fairer sex and why he doesn’t believe in resting on his laurels. Excerpt from an interview from Vogue India October 2017.
WONDERFUL WOMEN
Shah Rukh has charmed women of all ages. Ask him about his connection with women and he says, “I don’t talk to men—I don’t try to spend time with them. It’s boring! I’d rather be in the company of women. They have an inner strength in the face of ups and downs and I think I’ve turned into a little woman, spending so much time with them.”
IN THE STUDIO
Commercial successes and failures, a three-decade-long career and having done it all may satiate most people but not him. He now wants to “make the greatest studio the world has ever known, in the heart of Mumbai.” He’s always on, constantly pushing forward. In fact, he refuses to look back and is notoriously anti-legacy: “If I look at highlights, I’ll just be resting on laurels, man. Anyone who works for a legacy, towards a legacy, is working too much in retrospect already. Trying to leave something behind for people to remember you by is silly — a tombstone should read, ‘I tried’, that’s all.”
‘I DON’T HAVE A DREAM ROLE’
However, he has slowed down. While his early years were spent thinking he knew best, as most young actors tend to, right now he is working on only one film project. “The process is fantastic. I love acting, even if I get just two shots right. I like telling someone else’s story and I like entertaining people, so the high point of every decade is that I’ve entertained people more; it’s that simple. I don’t have a dream role — you give me a role, I’ll make it a dream role. I genuinely believe that, without being pompous. I may have done this for 30 years but I still don’t know it all. I love what I do, and I make my choices based on how I feel. One day I’ll feel like an over-the-top comedy, so I’ll do it. I did Fan, and it failed. You can’t detest failure until it keeps happening to you. And I abhor it. But failure does keep me going.”
ROLE CALL
The acceptance that he doesn’t know it all, the abhorrence of failure and his persistent curiosity is what makes him the eternal star. He’s currently most excited about his next Aanand L Rai film, where he plays a dwarf, “It’s the most post-production-heavy film I’ve ever done or made. I don’t think anybody in the world has tried it yet.”
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