(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Shah Rukh Khan gears up for his next release Fan, where he will be seen in a dual avatar - as superstar Aryan and his biggest fan Gaurav. In director Maneesh Sharma's sketch of a fan, Shah Rukh will be seen in a content driven film after a long time. In this film, a fan's obsession takes a dark and ugly turn. With millions of fans across the world, Shah Rukh is known for his larger-than-life-charm. He opened up in a special way to City Times and revealed a lot about his personal aspects of life. Here are excerpts from our long conversation with the superstar from his Dubai visit last month.
You are entering this dark, edgy zone after a long time with Fan, what was the trigger point when you signed this film?
There are different times, when I feel like doing a film of a certain nature. See, I can maximum do two films at a time. And I just felt like doing this role. I was doing Dilwale, which was over-the-top, fun, blockbuster kind of a film and I had fun doing it. It did not have much of the character, you just play the role. This film was very interesting because it is not as it seems actually. When the trailer came out people started asking me, if it's a biopic. They were like, 'you are so self-obsessed, Shah Rukh and you are in love with Shah Rukh Khan.' Now when they see the song Jabra, they say, 'you are so sweet and it is such a sweet character.' Then they see the dialogue and they are like, 'MY GOD, it is vicious'. It is the amalgamation of all of it. The challenge in the film was to bring all these facets without taking a side. It is not Baazigar, that there is a hero and a villain.
Gaurav is not flamboyant, he is just obsessed, he is not psychopathic like my character from Anjaam. He is just a normal kid and I found that very interesting. It is an emotional film and I liked that idea. I also get very turned on by technology in films. I think this is technologically the most forward film in the world at this moment, what we have done to the face, it is very interesting. It is make-up, there is VFX, there is a lot of weight loss, lighting.
How did the weight loss happen?
I did this film after Happy New Year. I was very fit at that time, but for this character we needed a paunch. As a matter of fact, I don't know if I am allowed to say this or not, but I had just finished Happy New Year and I had a ripped eight pack abs. There is a scene in this film where I am standing on the balcony with my shirt open as Gaurav and I wanted to play Gaurav with a little paunch. So I must be the only hero in this whole world who has done the VFX to get a fat stomach! Everyone is getting six packs through VFX, as you know! But later on, I did put on a little bit of weight and had a little paunch. We also shrunk it a little to reduce the height, so there is a lot of stuff going into it.
Gaurav is from Delhi and so are you, so was it easy to get the dialect and body language right?
When I came to Mumbai, all I wanted to do was play a Delhi character but I realised I have lost a lot of Delhi values.
I had to re-learn from my director. I was also listening to other actors from Delhi and I felt bad that I have forgotten my Delhi touch. It's actually 25 years since I have come to Mumbai.
'Working on fan was tiring'
"I used to have three injections, my patella had broken, I went straight into surgery after I finished the chase sequence in Fan. Just when I thought at the end of the day, 'Thank God, I finished scenes of this character. Now I will take off,' then I had to do the action for another character as well. So we would call the ambulance, two doctors and then do the stunts. It was very very tiring."
'INJURIES HAVE MADE ME CALMER'
"When you have to think which foot to put up to get up to the staircase, you become a little quieter. So it has made me calmer. Long back when I got hurt and for 6 months when I was in bed and was trying to recover, I learned the only way one can recover is by taking baby steps. I wasn't like that earlier, I was very energetic and hyper but now my nature has become a little gentler."
'My family leaves me alone at night'
"I am two people in one person. [Javed Akhtar always asks me, 'Am I talking to Shah Rukh one or Shah Rukh two?' Alia Bhatt told me the other day, 'you are a people's person. You charge everyone one.' But I guess since I do that the whole day, I am quiet at the end of the day. My family leaves me alone at night.] So I am very alone at times. I actually call it my meditation time, in a way I don't meditate. My life is so hectic. I am constantly thinking as a person and as an actor, I am doing things, I am jumping from mountains, I have a cricket team, blah blah blah. All the time, I am surrounded by at least 200 people at any given time. [It may seem that I am a loner but I am very shy, reclusive, reticent and very awkward. My flamboyance covers my shyness so I need to have both the time.] I like my space during nighttime because it is my time."
'I should have got Abram in Dubai'
"My kids make me happy. I should have got Abram here (during TOIFA). I made a mistake; he loves everyone and is very happy coming out. Parineeti Chopra and everyone loves him, I should have got him here. He is extremely positive, not troublesome, beautiful and playful. As a matter of fact, people say he is like me, as he loves making others happy. You leave him in the corner and say, 'Abram, two minutes, Papa is working.' He will say, 'Two minutes, okay?' It could be four hours, he doesn't understand time as yet, and he is lost having fun on his own."
'With Dilwale we felt people lost money in India, so we gave them back'
"When I make a film, it is never about the cost. I don't need to look after money, to be honest. I just want my films to be beautiful and big. So when they tell this won't recover, I say, 'Let's make it and hope for the best.' As a businessman, since we started this film company or any other business of mine, I am very clear about one thing that anyone who partners with me (that's why I don't do partnerships a lot) should not lose the money. So yes, with Dilwale we felt people lost money in India, so we gave them back. That's no pressure; I will just have to dance more at awards functions for a couple of months. One of my old films Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani tanked completely and people hated it, and I felt really sad but we survived it, we make 20 films now. Today when I look back at the day it tanked, I remember it was India Today or Outlook magazine that said 'Shah Rukh Khan's dream shattered', but I am doing good. I know like I say in my film Om Shanti Om, 'everything will be all right."
'I do think guys have a longer run...'
"It is unfortunate actually. I was talking to Sanjay Leela Bhansali that Madhuri Dixit was at the prime of her time when she did Devdas, what a solid actor; Juhi Chawla as well. But you know somewhere, 10 years ago, age mattered for heroines. I think those times are changing. You see girls of various ages doing different kinds of roles now. I do think guys have a longer run and we cannot deny that. I think we have just hit the time when age stopped mattering. If you really talk about longevity, then who is to question Mr. Amitabh Bachchan? When you are talking about Salman, Aamir, and me - we have been here for 25 years. Mr. Bachchan has been here for 45 years and he is still as watchable as he was 25 years ago. I think if we are doing the right stuff and with the right sense of propriety, it works."
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