Shy superstar

To his tens of millions of fans, actor and producer Shah Rukh Khan is the unrivalled King of Bollywood, known for his macho film persona.

But the high-energy, fast-speaking superstar, who is visiting Singapore next weekend for the Zee Carnival, showcasing Indian entertainment, gives a rare glimpse of his sensitive side in an hour-long telephone interview from Mumbai.

India's top romantic leading man confesses that in real life he is 'painfully shy of women'.

Khan, who turns 43 next month and has been married to Gauri Khan for 17 years, with whom he has two children, adds: 'I am just very shy of girls. I have never looked into my wife's purse or her wardrobe.'

The man who is everywhere in India - from movie billboards in the streets and shows on TV to making headlines for buying a cricket team and supporting the current Bollywood film-workers strike - also has another surprising revelation.

The famous actor says that he is 'an intensely private and reclusive man' who cries when he thinks of his late parents.

Khan's Muslim parents - Meer Taj Mohammad Khan and Lateef Fatima - died before he found fame in Bollywood and to this day he mourns the loss time cannot heal.

Says Khan: 'I often go to the terrace at my home and cry. I cry not because they haven't been able to see the successful side of me, I cry because even if I was a complete failure they would have wished me well and loved me unconditionally. Sometimes I cry over silly things, like my car breaking down. I end up saying, 'Mum, I wish you were around, you could have told me what to do'. Even my kids know that it's okay to see their dad cry.'

Continues...