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.'

"I do have the six-pack. I can show it to you," SRK

His new six-pack abs are being hotly discussed, Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan on Saturday almost took his shirt off to prove they were real and not morphed.

Khan, who was interacting at a Leadership Summit here, was flooded with questions on his new, fitter look.

An audience member asked him if the six-pack abs as seen in the trailer of the soon-to-be-released film 'Om Shanti Om' were real or morphed, prompting the actor to get up and almost take his shirt off.

"I do have the six-pack. I can show it to you," said the actor as he moved to unbutton his shirt.

The Bollywood heartthrob told the man who asked him the question that he would have certainly removed the shirt had the query been put by a woman.

"Your moustache gave you away. Otherwise I would have shown it to you," said the actor who was wearing a white shirt and had tied his hair in a ponytail.

Khan also rubbished the idea that his new fitter avatar was a result of any fear of the newcomers in Bollywood.

"I am trying to play a young, 2007 film star who has six pack and long hair. I was under no pressure (from the younger actors)," he said responding to a question on the motivation for building his body.

"If you think I am scared of being dethroned as the King of Bollywood, I would say shut up," Khan said.

Source: DNAIndia

"I am priceless. I don't have a price. I sell myself for everything" - Shah Rukh Khan

Addressing the audience at the summit, Shah Rukh Khan pitched strongly for selling an India in celebration, emphasizing on India as a global entertainment portal.

New Delhi: After political heavyweights held sway on Day one of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, on Day two of the event on Saturday, actor Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar took centrestage.

Addressing the audience at the summit, Shah Rukh Khan pitched strongly for selling an India in celebration, emphasizing on India as a global entertainment portal.

Adding that films should be formatted to suit international taste, in the same breath, Shah Rukh remarked that Indian films should also have the song-and-dance routines because that was the USP of Indian films.

“The time has come to sell the celebration of the country rather than selling sadness. Acting has no language. I have the potential to make cinema from my country for the world to take notice. But the ban on alcohol and cigarette in celluloid is narrow mindedness,” he said at the event.

The actor made a special note of mentioning the importance of respecting the media, admitting that he is dependent hugely on them. “All we need to do is not be savvy about the media. I think we just have to respect it and continue genuinely working together and I am dependent a lot on the media as a star, individually.”

And what's Shah Rukh’s net worth? “I am priceless. I don't have a price. I sell myself for everything. For endorsements, marriages, dances, birthday parties. The only thing I don't sell myself is for movies that's something I love doing for free,” Shah Rukh quipped at the event.

Admitting that he is extremely competitive, the actor clarified that his competition was very positive.

On a lighter vein, Shah Rukh Khan said looks come in the way of his joining politics. “It is commendable that young people are joining politics but I am too good looking and materialistic to join politics,” he said.

Focussing on India’s growth and development, Shah Rukh said he would like a more educated India.

The superstar also put in a word on the Indo-US nuclear deal that has kept Indian politics on the boil in the past few months. "There is no hurry to push the nuclear deal and even a new US Government can be convinced to go ahead with the Deal,” he said.

The biggest newsmakers of the day have gathered under one platform at the summit in the Capital. Later on Saturday, former governor of Florida and brother of US President, Jeb Bush, Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and singer and activist, Bob Geldof, are scheduled to speak at the event.

Source: ibnlive.com