Why SRK doesn't care for six-packs, loves Suri (the character he plays in RNBDJ) and respects womenThe man slips in and out of characters with characteristic ease. His romantic image has become something of a legend. Trust Shah Rukh Khan to go out and reinvent himself as Suri, an ordinary man every woman would want to love. Here, he talks about playing the part, both on the screen and off it...
What was your first reaction on seeing Rab Ne..?I saw it with my kids. My daughter started crying in the scene when Suri tells his friend, "mera us se love kara de yaara." She was very disturbed and asked me 'why doesn't she like you when you are so nice?' My first reaction got emotional. I find the film a bit long, but that's me because I've seen it a couple of times. I thought the first half was a little long, even the second... but I really like the film, even more than Chak De! India.
What scenes do you like?The scene when he starts talking to himself. To me, those are the sub-texts of the film. The two people in love, one wants to come out, but one wants to remain inside. All these things about Carl Jung that everyone has two people inside them is true. Adi doesn't like it. He says, "kya tu meri picture ko intellectual bana raha hai.' I also found the Chicken Little and the whole macho portion, very funny. That whole sequence builds up to the scene where he asks Taani what girls really want. And she says, "All every girl wants, is for some guy to love her more than he loves anything else."
And what do guys want?He wants 40 women that he can love more than any other woman in the world.
B**tards! Even 40 are not enough!I know. I was thinking like that when I was three and with every year I have added one and am 43 now. I think it grows with age.
Were you expecting mixed reactions to Rab?Yeah. See people like Taran Adarsh (with due respect) gave even Chak De! a one star rating. Now I have started telling people, 'main hotel nahin hoon toh star mat do, telephone nahin hoon toh number mat do. Picture dekh lo, achchi lage toh.'
Taani not recognising Suri was unbelievable to many people...When we finished reading the film, we were aware that there were two three leaps of faith. I asked Adi, 'yeh ho jayega?' and he said, 'Yeh ho jayega toh kamaal hai, nahin hoga toh, nahin hoga.' We even discussed if we should do prosthetics. And Adi said, "Tu kuch bhi kar le, tere awaaz sun ke bhi log pehchaan lenge. Adi just said "Give me a character and body language which is very different from yours, then it will work.' I thought that was very intelligent of him. He said that my face should not be different, or there was no point in signing me. We even tried a beard, but I didn't like it.
In retrospect, wasn't it a big leap of faith?We knew that when the film released, the people who didn't like it would say, 'It's not possible.' Superman and Clark Kent looked the same, and nobody questions that, because it is a premise that has been given to you early. Similarly, I jump from the sixth floor and people say, 'cool.' Matlab, how? In OSO, i am f**king reborn and you say, 'theek hai'. Chak De! is so unrealistic. We don't even know the names of the women in the Indian hockey team and one man comes and they win the world championship!
From a desirable character with six-pack abs to simple Suri. Were there any fears?I don't think like that. I never thought of myself as a desirable person. In terms of how I look, how I behave. So I have never have that fear. People ask 'how are you such a big star?'. I truly believe that there is something about me as an actor that connects, and I believe that is what makes the characters work. In Karan's film, I am just going to be an autistic person who can just about talk normally. I think it's okay, it's alright. I always think that a film is always going to be beyond a movie star. Or an actor. I feel Rab Ne is, in a way, beyond Suri, but actually, it is also just Suri. Adi told me very clearly when we started, 'that is we don't get Suri right then the picture is a big zero.' Some of the reports say: 'picture theek hai par aap kamaal ho.' That means picture kamaal hai, in this case. It won't be true in OSO, Chak De!, or any of my other hit films. This film is beyond me.
How did you work on the body language?You know people always say I spend a lot of time in the bathroom and ask what I do there. I work on my walk. All my characters have a walk. People don't catch on, but to me it is a great turn-on. I don't even tell the director ninety percent of the time. But Adi wanted to know how Suri would walk. I made Suri flat-footed. I wanted him to have a little paunch, but not unattractive. I wanted him to be concave, a little bent. I also give Suri a double chin and a droop.
How do you do that?You can bring your face down and let your lips hang. In a lot of scenes, I even put cotton in my mouth to make him look pudgy. I have not kept my face up, so there is no jawline definition. And in the scene when he is lying down, I have kept him 'tondh out'. In a serious film, sab kuch dark hota hai, sab real hai, toh it's fine. But not in a commercial film. We wanted people to love Suri, but I thought if I was able to keep him genuine, it would work. My logic was: Honesty and earnestness appeals to everyone, and Suri doesn't show off, so he is acceptable. And I also had this belief that he is very good in bed.
Suri!! Really?I am very disturbed that Adi has not put it. Last shot tha mera. Taani and Suri are both lying in bed after making out. He has a smile on his face and then the camera turns around, and she looks at him and says, 'A One ji." I wanted that shot. My believe is that people who don't show off their good points, whatever those might be goodness, sexuality they are really sexy and appealing. The beauty of Suri is that he very comfortable with who he is. I am too.
I love Suri.I think so. I love him too. I hope I can do a sequel to Suri.
You are brave enough to wear those clothes, wig, moustache et all, again?I was very, very uncomfortable in the get up. On the first day, Adi made me wear that long underwear also. He wanted me to be very uncomfortable. I was very uncomfortable in Raj's jeans also. And the T-shirts he wore were so tight that they had to be pulled off and I would tear them. In some scenes if you notice his tees are ripped from the side. I would tell them, 'f**k it, shoot like that, why do you make them so tight, then?' I wanted Suri's hair to be very thin. I wanted him to be a little bald, but Adi didn't allow me.
Yeah that would've been too much.So I wore a wig, which I never do. And those clothes! Every chance I got, I would remove the shirt and look cool in my baniyaan. And Adi made me wear the baniyaan with sleeves. Which I hate. I am anti-baniyaan. It used to make me so irritable.
Could you have made an arranged marriage work?Yes. I have this belief that the person I am supposed to love for whatever reason. Even just by the institution, I would really respect it. Muhjne na yaar kisi ka bhi dil todhne main bahut bura lagta hai. Sometimes I get angry and say things but I hate to hurt women. I feel that God will punish me and take away all the goodness he has given me if I hurt a woman. And it's not because of the fear I will be forced to love a person. Because of this fear I love and respect women a lot more. I would've made any marriage work.
Did Gauri like Suri?Oh, she loved him. She last said this to me in Chak De 'You are really good in the film, I don't know about the film.' And in this film she said: This is your best acting ever. She also really liked the film because there's a lot of Punjabi in it.
And what do you rate as your best performance?Mine is always the next one. I will kill people with an overdose of Shah Rukh. (laughs)
Did Suri change you?I became Suri. In the last sequence, the photographs were chosen in sequence by the director; I have just spoken over it. There were no written lines. I had gone to see Dostana. I'd reached early and was sitting with Aamir. He was talking about some shooting problem in Delhi, when Adi came and asked me if I would do a voiceover on the photos. I went in, and started to say some lines. Later, Adi heard it and said go. I said 'No, I will write it down now, fine tune it and do it better." But Adi said, 'f**k off from here. This is final.' He said he would not be able to write it better. It made me Suri for a while. It reminded me of my ordinary days. And it made me love the fact that I can be so ordinary. Even now, with all the trappings. It didn't change me. It just reminded me of who I am.
So you are like Suri?I mean it sounds funny but I am a lot like Suri. I am shy of women, if Gauri tells me she doesn't love me, I'll tell her, it's okay. I feel too embarrassed to say anything more. I can't ever have a standoff with a woman. Suppose you say 'you are a ' to me, and you hate me, and I hate you for saying that, I might get a little sarcastic with you for sometime..but after that I love you too much to continue. It could be any woman. I saw a movie yesterday which has a line which goes: I have been in love with every woman. For ten minutes or ten years, and it's really that. And when I say love, it's not sexual.
Like Suri. Who doesn't even touch his wife, except till the last scene!I think the best expression of love is achieved without touching. There's this scene where her hair is wet. Ek imagery hoti hai ke ladki geele baalon mein achchi lagti hai. And that's the only time you catch him staring at her. He doesn't look at her otherwise. He stares at the tiffin box more. He knows he is off limits and he respects that. If a man can respect his off-limitedness with a woman, how much ever she allows him to be close, that's the sexiest and the most romantic thing he can do. If a woman says, make love to me, you say ok, if a woman says kiss me, okay, if she says hold my hand, okay. The woman says, stay two feet away from me, okay. Do that and the romance will come through.
You believe that?Yes. I tell this to every man, and I will teach this to my son after five years, if you can respect the physical space of a woman, you will be the most romantic man on earth. When a girl needs a hug, you give it to her and when she doesn't need it, you don't need to hug her to show anything. You don't have to look deeply into her eyes, dance or sing woh sab picturoon main hota hai. That's why Suri to me is the ultimate romantic, sexiest hero in the world.
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