Keep it Short and Sweet, says Shah Rukh

Shah Rukh Khan, who has walked the long road from potboilers like 'Baazigar' to the iconic 'Chak De! India', Saturday said Indian films should be shorter and crisper to draw international audiences.

'I think films need to be shorter because we cannot impose our timings on others. Two hours is long enough. Brevity is the soul of creation. Brevity is the soul of telling a story,' Shah Rukh said at the HT Leadership Summit held here.

'See, I am short and I am entertaining!' he added.

The actor said Indians needed to take some marketing tips from the West.

'The first thing we should understand is that the West has understood how to market their goods. We still are at a nascent stage. We need to understand how they are able to impress upon me their cinema about their history, which I know nothing about and I still go and enjoy that. I think somewhere the marketing aspect needs to be put in place... We should take a cue from the West.'

Shah Rukh said he imagines an Indian entertainment industry that has good infrastructure, sells happiness through their films, and even organises the Oscars.

'I work in the field of imagination, which sells dreams. I feel India can be a global entertainment portal. We have a nearly 100-year-old entertainment industry, different kinds of music, amazing amount of languages, fantastic culture, technology, technicians and an amazing amount of entrepreneurs who are taking India forward.

'I'm tired of going to Cannes, bored of Oscar ceremonies. I'm not deriding anybody but I'm tired of pulling passers by and saying, 'Me too me too. I'm from India, I make Indian films'.

'I'm tired of talking of crossover and globalisation of Indian cinema. I'm tired of the whole idea of trying to make crossover film by selling sadness. I think it's time to sell happiness and celebration.

'We need to create infrastructure for the entertainment industry. We need to create production houses, some nice studios, which are not dusty and not ugly. We need some fantastic post-production units. Like the IT industry, we need to create units for entertainment and call people to use it.'