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| Shahrukh on
his newborn baby - Aryan ....Dil To Pagal Hai.....& more |
Shah Rukh Khan on his newborn baby... Dil To Pagal Hai... and then some more Jitesh Pillai -Film Fare To the untrained eye, he seems to be in the midst of a seizure. Flailing his limbs, hollering, pounding, twisting his face into grimaces which make Johnny Lever's contortions look harmless.
Meet Peter Pan aka Shah Rukh Khan, who's just dubbing the dialogue for one of his under-production films. That explains the facial disarray. At 32, he's still like the excited kid lost in the maze of a toy shop. He even tells me, "When I was a teenager, a guy in his 30s would be `uncle' for me. But look at me. See, the way I dress and act. I'm still a five-year-old at heart. That helps me while acting. To be an actor, you've to be like a child. Remember as children we were so unselfconscious, we weren't judgmental at all. That attitude helps even when you act, you're free of all your hang-ups, all your inhibitions."
But first things first. SRK's just turned father to a bonny baby, Aryaan. That he's excited is only stating the obvious. His brown eyes glisten happily. He says, "I hope Aryaan will grow up to look like my father. He was such a handsome man." And will he be as good a parent to his son? "I'll be a better parent to my son than my parents were to me. They died too soon, they left me alone. But I'll always be there for my son." With a heap of ha-ha humour, he adds, "My baby will be a pucca flirt. I think he even winked at the nurses at the Breach Candy hospital where he was born. I hope my child turns out to be a pucca badmaash. Just like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. But even if he turns out to be well-behaved, that's okay by me. My son must be honest and respect elders. That's all that I expect of him. "Frankly, I really hated myself when I saw Gauri going through all that labour pain. In the past 13 years that I've known her, she's never fallen ill on me even once. And now because of me she had to go through labour pain. "Though everyone says my son looks like me, I think he's an exact replica of Gauri. He took to me instantly, he even talks to me. I'll tell my son to grab all the opportunities he can, he shouldn't wait for them to come knocking. And when he grows up, I'll flirt with all his girlfriends. That's for sure."
SRK's face turns from the childlike to the chiselled, and his tone from the effusive to the belligerent depending on the mood of the conversation. His latest release Dil To Pagal Hai has been grudgingly called a hit. It evoked a mixed response among critics. He fires away, "It makes me sad when people react negatively to a film. The fact is that DTPH is a huge hit and not a single distributor will lose money but even make quite a lot of money." SRK further sallies, "Self-styled trade pundits say that my films don't open in C-centres. What a whole lot of hogwash! How come they don't make a note of the fact that DTPH made Rs 1.5 crores in the first week of its opening in Birmingham. I think it's people's responses to a film that are becoming cliched. Everyone wants to pigeonhole films, find knee-jerk reasons for a film's hit or flop." That Dil To Pagal Hai was marred by poor characterisations doesn't cut ice with the Khan. He fires yet another salvo, "I think critics are confusing characterisation with the idea of unity of time, place and action. How does it matter where I live or who my parents were? DTPH was a film about love and its myriad emotions. It wasn't a hum aur hamare bache kind of family drama. "Then some others complained that there was no conflict or problem in the film," SRK states, retorting, "My only rejoinder to that is: Isn't love the biggest problem today? Love makes you selfish. It causes so much heartache and heartburn, it's the root of so many dynamic relationships. Look at those moments in DTPH which tug at your heart-strings. Like the scene where I hold Karisma close to me and tell her that it's not her or my fault that I don't love her. It's God's fault. I thought that was beautifully handled. "Even the scene where I tell Akshay Kumar sarcastically that Madhuri Dixit would leave us all and go away, had so much pathos. And I also loved the dialogue where Karisma says, 'Maine mohabbat ko dosti ka naam de diya, tum aisa mat karo.' Wasn't that real? Doesn't it happen to everyone of us when our love isn't reciprocated? "After all this, someone actually asked, 'Why did Akshay Kumar get to sing the title song?' Can you believe that? This is how petty minds work out here. The thought that I wasn't doing the title song didn't cross my mind even once." SRK goes ballistic in defence of Dil To Pagal Hai. He argues. "I like Yash Chopra's attitude. He completed the film within the stipulated time, he made the film with love. At least, he's not self-indulgent like some directors who plod over a wafer-thin script for three to five years. In any case if the truth be told, none of us are making The Ten Commandments
After DTPH, would he rather return to the bright and consummate roles of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa or Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge? Ask him that and he spouts, "I'm fed up of love stories. I don't believe in them. Yash Chopra is one of the best at love stories. Now after working with a master like him, what else can I do? I don't mean to sound complacent but the fact is that I prefer racy movies like Men In Black to a mushy While You Were Sleeping. At breakneck speed, SRK continues, "We aren't playing characters any more in our films. We're playing puppets. We dance, sing and cry, all in the span of three hours. We do the most unbelievable things, hoping that they'll look believable on screen. "I hope this doesn't sound like a lame excuse, but I'm an entertainer, not a postman handing out messages. In the movies, sometimes I kill, sometimes I elope with the girl... I've even thrown her off the terrace. The idea is to grip the audience by hook or crook. I'm a showpiece for sale, I have to convince the buyer to take me home. But one thing's for sure. My performances are real. Only it's a larger than life realism." Sipping at his favourite cola, SRK says, "My driver should love the kind of films I do. His opinion matters to me. "I'm a product of the '90s. Call me a yuppie salesman, a businessman or whatever. I'll do everything to make my film a marketable product. "Ram Jaane clicked with a certain target audience. Similarly Dil To Pagal Hai has clicked with a different level of people. It would be foolish to believe that we're going to make everyone among the 800 million audience happy every time we make a film." Since the topic of DTPH is scalding hot, talk constantly veers around it. SRK speaks up further, "Mansoor Khan was telling me that after seeing DTPH, he has to match up to its standards. I think with DTPH we've made quality cinema. You wouldn't dare to call the visual look, the sets, the costumes and the performances commonplace, would you? Doesn't it rate as one of the top five films of the year? Isn't that great in itself? How many films released this year have as many beautiful moments as Dil To Pagal Hai? "Our aim was to tell the audience to have a good time. We hoped that our beliefs matched theirs. If they did, great. If they didn't, sorry, we would have to try harder next time. We didn't make DTPH to satisfy pseudo-intellectuals or the critics. If anything, DTPH has set higher standards for film-makers. "Another reaction was that I didn't give the usual Shah Rukh Khan-kind of performance. For goodness sake, will someone tell me what 'the usual Shah Rukh Khan' performance is all about? I think I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't. Sometimes it's said that I'm getting repetitive and hammy in my films. At other times, I'm accused of holding back, it's huffed that I was too restrained. (Laughs) Give me a break! It's the responses and expectations of some people which are getting cliched and repetitive." SRK asserts that he can boogie out of the stereotype only when he directs his own kind of films after a few years. But he will not star in them. Laughing some more, he rolls his eyes and says, "When I make films, actors who're luckier than me will have the good fortune of being directed by me!"
Talk moves to SRK's project with Aamir Khan to be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film's script is still being finalised. SRK muses, "It will be interesting working with Aamir. If he's a thoroughbred, I'm a mongrel. Since he's so serious and I'm so flip, that's bound to produce interesting results. I'll acquire some of his thinking and introspection. From me, he'll learn to loosen up, chill out." Every fanzine interview about him is how he loves his wife and dog (strictly in that order). The consummate chatterer says, "I don't think it's cool to have affairs. I'll never be caught with my pants down. I get all my exhibitionism out of acting. "I can't romance my heroines. I share an asexual relationship with them. They're like my buddies and that's why we're so comfortable doing even the most intimate scenes before the camera. That's why I love working with Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. While doing that Kehdo mujhse pyaar nahin karti scene in DTPH, Madhuri and I caught the nuances of the scene so perfectly. Through Anjaam, Koyla and DTPH, Madhuri and I bonded together. I really think she's one of the finest actors I've worked with. "Even with Juhi, in that scene in Yes Boss, where I blow at a dust speck in her eyes, we just melded into the frame. I know we'll never be able to recreate those scenes again. Working with Madhuri and Juhi has been a lifetime's dream come true. I really miss them when I don't work with them... even more so, when I'm doing films with other disinterested stars and smart alecs who've already begun to think that they're thespians." Artifice doesn't belong to Shah Rukh Khan's repertoire. He has consistently avoided the trappings of big-time stardom like egodom and vanity. Yet the other by-products do linger. Like a swank Mercedes and a bungalow. He parries again, "That's it. The house and car are my only indulgences and I should be allowed to enjoy them. Otherwise I'm as uncomplicated as I was ten years ago. I don't romance my heroines, I don't interfere with my director's work, I get hit on the head by my wife if I act starry or funny... and I'm also the best actor in the country. You just can't touch this." Saying that, he skips off towards the inner sanctum sanctorum of his house to act grown up with his little son. But for our sake let's hope that our Peter Pan never grows up. Because then our Neverland may never be the same again. Article By Jitesh Pillai -Film Fare
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