Shah Rukh Khan, who made his Bollywood debut 25 years ago, spoke about his work process in a recent interview with DNA India.
When asked about possible insecurities in being known as one of the most bankable stars in the industry, SRK admitted that he was never an insecure person to begin with, and that his main aim is to “entertain people for two hours or more”.
“I have never had reasons to be insecure. There will be a film which will do badly, but there are so many of them which have done well, too. I have been hearing for 22 years that my career is over. Everyone keeps saying it, but people don’t understand the business, the intensity that most actors and actresses use to entertain people. I am just very happy releasing my films,” he said.
He also operates on an “automatic shut-off system” when a movie of his tanks at the box office. “Sometimes, they don’t work. There’s nothing more to it than that. But if it doesn’t work personally, I get very disturbed and sad. I wish somehow I knew which story to tell. I am also not prone to doing the right thing, to try and make a safe film. It may seem so because people keep picking up my safest thing and giving that as an example.”
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On comparisons running high in the industry, SRK, who has often been pitted against the two others Khans – Salman and Aamir – believes that a film is all about entertaining people. “My intention is for me to know, for me to do, for me to believe in. It’s supposed to entertain you; if it did, good, if it didn’t, too bad. For people who keep talking so much about what I say, what I do, what business I should have, they have not been here for 51 years and I don’t want to question their intention either. But they don’t know what they say. How can I take it seriously?”
Interestingly, SRK began his career with negative roles in movies like Baazigar and Darr, both released in 1993. Later, he played negative characters in Don and Don 2, and after a while, one with shades of grey in Raees.
Thus far, Shah Rukh Khan has a few projects in the pipeline including The Ring with Imtiaz Ali and an untitled one with Anand L Rai.