Meet Bollywood’s biggest brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan as he speaks his mind in a free-wheeling interview with Bhupendra Chaubey on religion, the business of entertainment, his films and much more.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Welcome on the show tonight, Shah Rukh

Shah Rukh Khan: Thank you, thank you very much.

Bhupendra Chaubey: How do I introduce you, though, Shah Rukh? A performer, brand ambassador, artiste, or a salesman?

Shah Rukh Khan: Ah, I should be the most hard-working employee of entertainment.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You look at yourself as an employee?

Shah Rukh Khan: I look at myself as an employee; there was a time I didn’t; I looked at myself like the badshah, but as you grow in status in this industry of entertainment and media, you realise that finally you got much more than you deserve and that’s only because your employer has been very kind to you.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Many might say it’s just humility on your part, or modesty..

Shah Rukh Khan: Well, I’m humble.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But I would say that the reason I actually asked you this question about your introduction is that it hasn’t been all that hunky-dory for you: the ride from your Fauji days to Baazigar and now the kind of movies that you’re participating in, whether it’s Chak De or your Om Shanti Om. Has the ride been smooth?

Shah Rukh Khan: I think as smooth as it can be. I think it’s been a great ride. It’s been, uh, of course as you go along, there are lot of things you think have gone wrong sometimes, but most of the things have gone right. There was a time I became ungrateful and greedy and I thought everything should go right!.

But then when you look back sometimes, whenever I do – I do that very seldom – but when I look back I say okay, then, overall it’s been a good innings. I’ve done well, played some good shots, and I think I’ve got my lucky breaks and… it’s great to be doing what I’m doing.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Have you changed as a performer, Shah Rukh, over the years, because I remember when you started off initially, initial part of your movies, whether it was Baazigar or Darr or any of your other movies, there was a feeling; many of your critics, in fact, argue that Shah Rukh Khan is an actor with two to three expressions. Has that changed? Have you put a deliberate attempt from your side to prove them wrong?


Shah Rukh Khan: No, I…, as a matter of fact before critics could say that, I said that I have three expressions and I sometimes mix them together, and I do a permutation where it becomes three into two into one and make six or seven of them, but not more than that. Maybe, I am speaking out of turn but I don’t think lot many actors have a lot many expressions. This is it and you play within that parameter or that set of rules.

Expressions are like rules, the rules set by my face, by my nature, by my upbringing, by my education, and I need to play within that. For an actor it is important to know the limitation before knowing the talent, and I think… I was never… I have never claimed to be a great actor, but there is a huge change in the way I have started performing now.

When I was young and I was very stupid – now I am older, still stupid but not very stupid – what I decided to do was that I put in a lot, I needed to be noticed; I was a young, little kid in a crowd, in a big party, where I had to pull at everyone and say “Look at me! Look at me!” and I made that attempt.

Soon I realised I am the guy who was sort of the host of the party, now. So I need to start behaving myself, and as the years have gone by, I do a little less and try to convey a bit more. So that change has happened, but the expressions are still the same.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But I want to ask you Shah Rukh, I think you are one of the few actors in our film industry – the concept of hits and flops never affects you. Is that to do with the fact that you’ve become so visible now in every walk of life? You are there on television screens, there on advertising hoardings, irrespective of what happens to your film career – it actually makes no difference?

Shah Rukh Khan: I wish it was that easy. I wish it was as simple as that.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You don’t agree with that?

Shah Rukh Khan: I don’t agree with that. I don’t think it's visibility. Nobody wants to see you if you don’t do work which makes you deserving to be visible. Nobody would like to see it. You wouldn’t interview me.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay, so…

Shah Rukh Khan: I think finally the core of my job is to make films that entertain you, and when I say 'entertain', I mean lot of people come and see it. Unless they see a lot of your films, whether it’s endorsements, whether it’s television, whether it is just appearances, anywhere, I wouldn’t be called to do any of them.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, let’s talk about something which has given you tremendous amount of visibility all over again, tremendous amount of respect again: your recent super-hit Chak De. How was it working in that movie?

Shah Rukh Khan: Fantastic! I mean, as good or bad as it is working in any other film. Actually, I think of all films that I do as the best films being made at that time. That’s how I goad myself on to get up in the morning after 16 years of the same work. I still get this, this is the greatest film I am doing. I work in every film as if it’s my first shot. And at the same time, when I’m giving the first shot, I work in the film thinking “this is the last shot”.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But would I be wrong, Shah Rukh, to actually look at it a little differently, in terms of perceptions? If you look at the last movies you’ve done, let’s say in the period of four to five years? You started off with Pardes, or Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, or Swades, or the recent Chak De!, every movie, I thought there was some message that Shah Rukh Khan was trying to give to the people in general; in Swades he was someone who believed tremendously in traditional Indian values, similar to your Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge performance; then, in your recent hit, you try to come across as someone who was representing the feelings of those who, perhaps, are being accused of not being patriotic enough, specifically the Muslim community. Was that something on your mind when you were in the movie?

Shah Rukh Khan: Honestly, if you ask me, most of time I think too much credit is given to the main protagonist of the movie, the main star. I think if these thoughts are there, I think they are the director’s and the writer’s thoughts. I just happen to be the face which is speaking those thoughts. And honestly, I have never so deeply dwelt into why I am doing a film.

The bottom-line is that when I do a film, and I have kept it simple – I think one of the greatest qualities of success is keep it as simple as possible – I say, okay, this is the story, it is saying something beyond what the story should say, it has a fantastic sub-text, but is it what I am going to sell? No. What I’m going to sell is, is it watchable for two hours? Within that two hours, after it’s entertaining – and I am not trying to deride or demean the importance of cinema I’ve done through some great directors and writers; but, if I didn’t keep it so simple, I think I’d just get lost in giving messages. And I truly believe, messages – it’s an old saying in films – messages are for the post box and the post office, not for actors and films.

So, I don’t want to give messages, but yes, sometimes I think that is true, the kind of films that are attracting me, somewhere internally do make me want to say certain things and that is why I get attracted – “I’ll do this one!”

I like the fact that it is Kabir Khan, leading a bunch of 16 girls, from different states of our country; talk about women empowerment, talk about sports, and yeah, don’t let anyone else pick on you just because you happen to be from a minority group. And fortunately, I’ve never faced it personally, you know? I mean, I’m supposedly in a Hindu country, and one of the biggest stars – you can’t more secular than that as my life is, and my wife is a Hindu and I’ve had a great life.

So I’m no one to make a comment, but I do hear minorities have issues, and Islamic ones too, and I think somewhere it must have played on my mind and I said, let me do a film where a guy faces this brunt somehow, rightly or wrongly, and let me justify it to them.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Over the last couple of years, every time that I’ve seen you come at public functions, I’ve seen the moment you come on the stage and the time you’re getting off the stage, you always do aadaab. Is that something you’ve been doing all along or is that something that has come to you in recent times?

Shah Rukh Khan: All my life

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, there’s no hidden message there?

Shah Rukh Khan: No, there’s no hidden message. Shobhaa De said somewhere a hidden message about this, and I’m very fond of Shohbaa. She’s very sweet, she finds signs in everything, strangely, but –

Bhupendra Chaubey: Maybe as journalists maybe it’s our habit to read too much into what you film-stars do.

Shah Rukh Khan: Yeah, maybe, maybe. But I once remember I was doing it on stage, eight years ago. I’m Islamic by birth, my father and mother taught me to say aadaab. Saif Ali Khan does aadaab also so it’s upto your upbringing.

I remember when my wife was going around with me, she wasn’t married to me, she used to find it very strange because she hadn’t seen anyone do this *does aadaab* and touch the heart and she would say, “Why do you touch the heart like this?” It sort of signifies respect to you and you’re close to my heart.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And you tell your children also? You give the same kind of values to your children?

Shah Rukh Khan: Yeah, my kids do aadaab but very sweetly. They say “yo!” *does aadaab*.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, it’s the fusion of Western culture and ancient Indian values -

Shah Rukh Khan: It’s a fusion of the secularity of my country, I think. You say how, you know, can say – as long as you greet me with respect, whether you do it like this *does namashkar*, whether you do it like this *does aadaab*, whether you do it like this *touches heart*, as long as – that’s what I’ve taught my children – whichever mode you decide to greet people with, make sure there is respect. I always, at the end of a function, because I’m an artiste, take a bow to the audience. You would have noticed it also.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Yes, yes.

Shah Rukh Khan: I make it a point to go, but that is my theatre upbringing.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Right.

Shah Rukh Khan: You finish your show and you bow, say “thank you” to everyone. So… that also has no hidden agenda! That’s the way I’ve been brought up.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But I want to delve a little more into the secular credentials of the country that you’re talking of, just like Bollywood is a secular fraternity, as well. How do you get affected as a person, as an individual – not necessarily as a performer, or as an actor – when you pick up the newspaper or when you see the television, and news channels, and you see these stories coming up, that in some part of the country, minorities are being targeted for, actually for reasons which should not even be talked about?

Shah Rukh Khan: I feel very ashamed. I feel very saddened. I feel very, very disturbed about them.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And what do you do about them?

Shah Rukh Khan: And I’m ashamed because I don’t do anything about it, to be really honest. I wish I could… what can I do? I can just speak about it. I can feel about it. I do not… purposely I don’t follow up a movement to try and change that. But, I know there are lots of youngsters out there who would understand me.

I don’t think I can change the way people think, who are older than me, or who are already affected by this sort of mentality, but to the youngsters – and I think I am going to make a huge impact on their lives as an actor, as someone who comes across to them as a person who has a mind, who’s friendly, who’s nice – and I want to tell them, “Let not religion – ever – come in the way of the progress of our country, or in your thoughts, because religion is a discipline”.

So whether you are Islamic, whether you’re Hindu, whether you’re Christian – I have grown up performing in Ram Lilas, being in the vaanar sena or Hanuman, I have been brought up by all Hindu, Teksons, Sharmas – they were really wonderful people when my parents were not at home. I still believe in Islam because my parents taught me to read the Qur’an. And I think I am very secular. I would like to tell the youngsters, “Don’t let religion be any yardstick for the measurement of progress and happiness”.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Then how do you respond to what had happened at the T20 World Cup finals? You were there. The Pakistani team lost the match to India, and the Pakistani captain, Shoaib Malik, at the podium said “My apologies to the entire Muslim community across the world”. You think he went out of line there?

Shah Rukh Khan: No, I don’t think so. I think, you know, because he comes from a nation which is Islamic, in a large sense, and I think he meant a lot of people must have given him duas, and when somebody gives you dua, he assumes they must be Muslims, and he must have said it as a way of speaking. I don’t think he meant to segregate Muslims and Christians and Hindus and say this was a match between Islam and Hinduism. I don’t think that.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Because it created a lot of controversy…

Shah Rukh Khan: I know, and I think the way he spoke it out, he just meant the people who prayed. A lot of people must have prayed, we all prayed. I’m a Muslim, I also do dua, and I don’t think he meant it as a rift between the Hindu and the Muslim thing.

Bhupendra Chaubey: I mean, the irony couldn’t have been completed better, because the Man of the Match of that match was Irfan Pathan, someone who came from Baroda, and here was Shoaib Malik who was talking about how the Muslim community must have been affected.

Shah Rukh Khan: I think more than the irony we should recognise the fact that these differences are no differences. You play the game, you win it and you lose it; it’s got nothing to do with any religion. I think it was misconstrued what he said. I think it was just meant to be that a lot of people have given you duas when you are coming here, so I’m sorry all the Muslim guys. I think he just meant it in the general sense.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But Shah Rukh, all along your career and your life, you’ve taken the line that you’re an actor and your job is just to act, deliver the lines that’ve been given to you by your directors. But I want to read something which has been talked about extensively: your performance in Chak De!, and Mir Ranjan Negi, the goal-keeper of India whom this movie was apparently based on, he went on record to say that “Shah Rukh has done justice to what I have been living with for the last 15 years of my life”. Obviously, it’s not as simple: the things that you do on screen, on the big screen, have a huge impact on the people. Here is a man who feels that you are the one who has finally done justice to all the wrongs, which must have had affected him.

Shah Rukh Khan: See, he’s a wonderful gentleman. Again, I would say that at this age, and the kind of person he is, I didn’t think that he needed any vindication. He didn’t need to be saying, “Look, now finally I’ve got justice through this film”. The film is based on a lot of instances in sports, not only hockey. One of the instances happened to Mr Negi also, and he was there to tell us about the experiences. Some of the scenes, while I was doing them, he was crying also.

And, I’d like to believe that my job does not impact, or, you know, effect anyone negatively, at least. If there is someone – I’ve had people who’ve told me they decided to marry after seeing Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I’ve been told by mothers, “I want my child to look like or talk like Rahul and Raj”. So, as long as it’s nice and positive, I’d like to take the credit, no, I wouldn’t even like to take the credit – I’m happy! But I hope my work does not impact anyone negatively.

I make it a point to try and do cinema which does not impact – I do bad guys, I throw women off the buildings, I stab and shoot also, I do awful stuff, but I need to tell everyone, “See, this is entertainment,” and I stick by what I’m saying. I’m not shirking responsibility, but I stick by what I’m saying, “I am just an actor. I’m not extremely intelligent. I am not here to make a social change. Please don’t be judgemental, because this is just entertainment.”

Bhupendra Chaubey: But Shah Rukh, would you deny the fact that you brought with yourself a certain kind of professionalism, a certain kind of discipline, which often the people did not associate with the stars of yesteryears? And along with the professionalism, along with that discipline, the responsibility on you – the superstar – has also increased tremendously?

Shah Rukh Khan: I think discipline has come in, in the last 5-10 years. I am lucky to have got into the Indian film industry at a point in time when things were changing. Sometimes, I don’t like it because I go late on the sets. I don’t like this 9 o’ clock landing up on time…

Bhupendra Chaubey: Yes, yes, you were just a bit delayed for this interview, too.

Shah Rukh Khan: Yes, yes, I’m late everywhere. I wish there were 27 hours in a day. But, it’s very nice that all this organisation is happening when you are looking at a profession which is becoming so large now – and entertainment is very, very large – I think some amount of professionalism comes in, and yes, the responsibility’s extreme. I tell everyone that just becoming – see, nobody becomes a superstar.

You are made a superstar by the media, by the public, by the audience. And I accept that and I respect that a lot! And there is a lot of responsibility! I was just sitting, I was doing an interview with the Press and I lit a cigarette and there was this gentleman and he said, “Such a bad sign that you’re smoking! Aren’t you ashamed?” I’m ashamed and I apologise, I’m very, very sorry that I smoke. But I do it.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But you still smoke?

Shah Rukh Khan: I do it, yeah, I do it. I mean, it’s a problem. Everybody’s got some vices. I’m not a saint. I’m not a sadhu-sant.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, do you hold it against the people of this country, Shah Rukh, that they have been so tremendously influenced by what you have brought to the table, by the way you have changed cinema that they’ve almost always come to start expecting something out of you, every time they see you on the screen?

Shah Rukh Khan: I don’t hold it against them.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, from here on everytime you come on screen they will expect that Shah Rukh must be something like a superman, like an angel who will change all the problems that we have been afflicted with?

Shah Rukh Khan: No, first I will give up smoking. That’s a good expectation. My kids, who also form a part of the audience, want me to. But the other aspect, you know I’m quite chhichhora, if I may say, I’m a bhaand. So, suddenly I may do a film where everyone starts saying “oh, wonderful!”, “he said it so nicely!” and “what good things!”, so quickly I would do one chhichhora film where I take that away. See, I like having fun. I like giving fun. If I don’t have fun, I’m not gonna make you smile.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Was that the main reason why – because, until you came to the big screen and you started changing the rules of the game in a way, there was a perception that big movie stars should not be a part of television, should not be seen so extensively through advertising campaigns. You decided to just not give a damn about it…

Shah Rukh Khan: I’ll tell you honestly, there were a lot of things I did which were not acceptable. I was married, to begin with. You didn’t have romantic heroes who were married, and I was told that by a lot of senior people, “Listen, you lose 25 per cent of your women audience”. The second part was – I told them – I’m not doing romantic films, I’m doing bad guys. So I got launched as a bad guy, I was killing people. The third part was that I started endorsing and everyone said, you know, “You are over-exposing yourself!” I think I am single-handedly responsible for making actors celebrity-endorsers, and I take the credit for that.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Someday you should launch a celebrity management company, as well. Maybe you keep a cut from all the big stars.

Shah Rukh Khan: I am already a celebrity management company. Actually, all of them should pay me for opening this line of work. And there is a reason, there is an economic reason behind this, which I have always maintained and said it for people who did not understand– I said it at the Summit, also – that I do not charge for my films.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Cross your heart and say it, Shah Rukh – you don’t charge a single penny for your movies?

Shah Rukh Khan: You can ask anybody yourself. I do not have a price. I don’t tell any producer what amount of money I will take. I have done 52 films and you can ask all 52 producers, and that’s the truth. I’ll explain the economics of it. Just now somebody told me, “we didn’t understand this aspect”.

Because, when I was young and did my first film, someone came to me and gave me 1 lakh Rupees – I did my first film for five thousand Rupees – somebody gave me 1 lakh Rupees, and I’d never seen that – I became a lakhpati. You know, it was a very big thing 15 years ago and even now, to become a lakhpati! And what happened, when I took the money I stopped asking about the film. I stopped feeling for the film. And I returned that money and I decided that day, that I’m never going to ask money for a film: that is the only way I’ll remain price-less. So when I say it, I don’t say it in jest, I am priceless. You cannot buy me for a film. For everything else, I am available. For a film, you know, with so much money coming in, it is very difficult to avoid it. I do two films.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But then what happens to cinema as an art form, Shah Rukh? Because, you’re saying that you don’t take any money for the kind of movies that you’re acting in. I remember through the seventies and the eighties, the one criticism that was levelled against Mr Bachchan, who was – like you are now – at the peak of his acting career then; the accusation against him was that all the movies were being made in such a way that Amitabh Bachchan could be sold and therefore more money could be brought into the medium. You – if you are not charging any money, and you are making all the money through your celebrity endorsements and all – shouldn’t you be contributing in some way to the growth of cinema as an art? Cinema as more meaningful?

Shah Rukh Khan: I think I make amazingly meaningful cinema. You know, it’s the perception. A lot of people turn around and say, “You know, you do hogwash, what is this, this is not meaningful cinema”. To me, this is meaningful cinema, what I do.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, what was looked at as parallel cinema earlier, is it the kind of cinema now which has been brought into mainstream media (so to say) through people like you…

Shah Rukh Khan: I don’t think there is anything like “parallel” and “separate”! It’s a good story. See, you have to tell stories, you have to tell good stories, whatever is a good story. And said in an entertaining way. Do you have kids?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Yes.

Shah Rukh Khan: And if you want to narrate a story to your kids, if you say it in a boring way, they won’t even fall asleep with that story. Sometimes stories are so boring you don’t even fall asleep. You have to make it interesting for people to understand. Not make it parallel, not make it serious, not make it dark, not make it morbid, not make it poor…

Bhupendra Chaubey: Just go ahead and tell a story…

Shah Rukh Khan: Just go ahead and tell a story. If it looks rich, it looks rich. As long as the story is good. So, I don’t think there’s anything like “parallel”. If somebody turns around and says, “You don’t do meaningful cinema,” the reason I’ve not done some other kind of cinema, which may be darker, more serious, more intellectual, is because I don’t understand the meaning of that cinema. I do the cinema which I understand the meaning of and then I’ll make it meaningful.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And do you understand cinema only which operates in a commercial sense? Cinema which sells, you understand, is that what you’re saying?

Shah Rukh Khan: No, I understand cinema which lot of people watch! I don’t understand home videos. I understand cinema which lot of people watch. If lot of people come to watch, they buy lot of tickets and lot of money comes in. So, in a certain sense, the way to measure good cinema is the ticket sales. But, I’ve seen some very nice films which haven’t done well, my own, and I’m like, okay, this was also good cinema, but lot of people didn’t think so.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay, let’s do a bit of crystal-ball-gazing. Let’s try and look what awaits for us – the viewer – in store, as far as Shah Rukh Khan the performer is concerned. Do you think that Shah Rukh Khan the actor would change, as time goes by? You admitted that you’ve already changed; what happens in the future, now? What kind of movies are you working on?

Shah Rukh Khan: I don’t know; you know, I listen to stories. I was listening to a film called Robot now, which was very interesting, which is a VFX-oriented film. Director Shankar is making it and I’m very intrigued by VFX and I want my kids to see it. There is no other film on the anvil. I have Om Shanti Om, which I think is an extremely happy-go-lucky, celebrated film and I hope that works for people.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And your six-pack muscles are also doing the rounds.

Shah Rukh Khan: I know! Unfortunately!

Bhupendra Chaubey: Actually the movie is making more news for the kind of role you are playing, for the kind of physique you got.

Shah Rukh Khan: I know! And that’s one of the characters. The other character has a paunch. I don’t know… see, the acting part changes unconsciously. It’s not a conscious decision. I don’t, I can’t get up in the morning and say, “From today, I’m gonna act differently”. You don’t. I think over the years, sometimes I catch my films – I don’t watch my films – sometimes, I catch my films on television and I am like, whoa, why did I do it like this? I don’t even remember why I did it like this.

So, you know, things change on their own – you evolve. It is very organic, being an actor, if I can use words like this. So, you keep changing. I don’t know if I will change as an actor; maybe, I will, maybe, I won’t.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Let me then ask you, as we come towards the end of our interview, Shah Rukh, a lot has been made out of similarities and rivalry between you and Amitabh Bachchan. First, are there any similarities between the two of you?

Shah Rukh Khan: We’re the same height.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And that’s it?

Shah Rukh Khan: And that’s it.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay…

Shah Rukh Khan: And the voice is exactly the same.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay…

Shah Rukh Khan: And I’m left-handed.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So, therein the differences have also been taken care of.

Shah Rukh Khan: No, you know what happens is, one aspect I’ll say first – and in no which-way to deride the importance of any actor that is being compared with me, or I being compared to. Sometimes, it’s a great honour when people compare me to Dilipsaab and to Mr Bachchan. And I’m like, okay, this is good. And it used to sound very good. A lot of people are talking about him and me in the same breath. And here I was and I just wanted to look at their hands, and touch them, and feel them, and act with them! So it’s really a great honour.

But on the other hand, for the last 16 years – since 1991 that I’ve been acting – every six to seven months, I’m compared to someone, and about three-four years ago I realised that there is consistency here, that I’m being compared to someone. Sometimes, a newcomer is kicking my butt. Sometimes, my contemporary is shoving me out. Sometimes, a senior person is better than me. And I’m like, why am I the sole, one factor that everyone is comparing to? I suddenly realised that’s a compliment. It’s really nice – I’m consistently there. That’s why people are comparing me with everyone who’s coming, who’s shoving me, still being there. I have started overlooking it. And as far as Mr Bachchan and me are concerned, we really have no rivalry, we have no stress. We are very fond of each other, as colleagues. See, there is a huge age difference, so I am closer to Abhishek, of course. But, with Mr Bachchan, you can’t not get up when he walks in.

Bhupendra Chaubey: I recently did an interview with Mr Bachchan, just last month, in fact, when I asked him the same question what he thought about you, and he said, “Shah Rukh, according to me, is the best ever actor,” and when I asked him if he was to compare you and Abhishek Bachchan, he said, “There is no comparison, Shah Rukh Khan is the best”.

Shah Rukh Khan: And also, it is unfair. It’s unfair! It’s exactly as unfair to compare a younger actor to me, because there is no body of work, you’re putting too much pressure. It’s also unfair to me, because I’ve been working for 15 years. Similarly, when you’re comparing me to Mr Bachchan, it’s unfair to him, that I, you know, that I’m an upstart, compared to him. We have no rivalry. We have no issues. I’ll say it one more time and I’ll have to put a tape recorder in my mouth. We have great fun when we are working together. When we are working together, we play a lot of games. We have similar interests also. We like asking question-answers like KBC.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And both of you ended up being hosts also.

Shah Rukh Khan: Yeah, yeah, we do, we do. We do KBC with each other.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Will we see more of you on television, now, Shah Rukh? Considering the enormous response of your KBC 2, that you participated in?

Shah Rukh Khan: I would love to. I’m a television artiste. I started there, I’d like to end up there, if I could.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You have no hang-ups, as far as television is concerned.

Shah Rukh Khan: I have no hang-ups of being on any platform where I can entertain people.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Whether it’s internet, whether it’s television, video, movies, everywhere…

Shah Rukh Khan: Internet, television, video, street theatre. Whatever you call me, as long as you can afford me, I’m ready to do it. Films, I don’t take money, television, I take money.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay. What about politics, Shah Rukh? We see you interacting very closely with the Gandhi family, just like Amitabh Bachchan interacts very closely with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh. Would it be fair for us – particularly us political journalists – to look at you maybe taking your first ginger steps towards some kind of a possible alliance with the Congress party?

Shah Rukh Khan: I was just asked this; everybody asks me this. You know, I have friends who are in different professions. And Robert and Priyanka happen to be, somehow, connected to the profession of politics – non-profession of politics, in terms of what they do. But, you know, it’s like, why doesn’t anyone ask me? Why don’t you ask me, sitting here, “So Shah Rukh, when are you going to become an astronaut?” I’m like, why don’t you ask me that, “Shah Rukh, now that you’re 40, have you ever given a thought to becoming an engineer?” I’m like, no. Why don’t you ask me that? You’ve not asked me that.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You know, there is no basis at all for us to think of that…

Shah Rukh Khan: Because, you know, I’m 40 years old. I have no political bent of mind. I have had no interest in political science. I am a businessman and I enjoy the work I do. As a matter of fact, if I was to in any which-way ever serve the society, I think it would be best through entertainment, not by trying to run the country, or being part of machinery which runs the country. To me, being in politics is as alien, though as wonderful as being an astronaut. I wish I could be an astronaut, but I can’t now. It’s too late. I’ll clarify a few other things: lot of actors have gone into politics. But you have to understand: those actors always had a bit of a political bent of mind. They were always interested in the science of politics. And somewhere they felt this platform will help them do it. Those who don’t become, does not necessarily follow – I mean, I just find this logic very strange because few actors have joined politics, okay. So? Every actor should? No.

Bhupendra Chaubey: But then why isn’t your response to this question, Shah Rukh – how do you know what lies in the future? Are you talking only in the present sense or are you completely denying the very possibility of you ever entering politics?

Shah Rukh Khan: It’s like, see, the day I become an astronaut, I’ll become a politician. I want to be the first astronaut-politician of the world. But I won’t become an astronaut – let’s be realistic. Let’s be a little practical. Then, again also as I say, why is it only one way? Last time also, when Robert met me, everybody said, so, you’re joining politics; nobody said to Robert, is he joining films? That’s very strange. Why don’t you ask them? Maybe he’s meeting me to get a role in a film?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay, Shah Rukh, now what I’m gonna do is something which actually your friend, Karan Johar, does on his very popular show. I’m gonna throw a few questions to you which we are also calling “rapid fire” round. Okay? Here goes: if Shah Rukh Khan had an option, would you marry Karan Johar?

Shah Rukh Khan: Ah… no.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay. If Salman Khan came to you looking for some advice for his broken heart, what would that advice be?

Shah Rukh Khan: I’ll say, get that six pack like me. Forget the broken heart.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You could have said that maybe, give up smoking, too?

Shah Rukh Khan: Nah, he doesn’t smoke as much as I do.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Okay. If you would’ve started from scratch, all over again, suppose you were asked to make another beginning, would you have liked to become an actor again?

Shah Rukh Khan: A teacher.

Bhupendra Chaubey: And what would you teach?

Shah Rukh Khan: Acting.

Bhupendra Chaubey: By the way, why did you do Economics Honours?

Shah Rukh Khan: I don’t know, I do a lot of things. My father told me that you should be able to read every page of the newspaper. So, I was a science student, and there was this page about shares and Sensex, which I never understood, so I did Economics Honours so I could, maybe, understand that. I still don’t understand that.

Bhupendra Chaubey: You don’t invest in stock markets or anything?

Shah Rukh Khan: No, it was a waste.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Thanks a lot, Shah Rukh, all the very best. Do keep entertaining.