WATCH: My Indianness shouldn't be questioned - SRK

- SHAHRUKH KHAN TALKS TO NDTV -
In his first interview after a trip to New York and London to promote My Name is Khan, Shah Rukh Khan reacts elaborately to the controversy over his comments on Pakistani cricketers being excluded from the Indian.

EXCLUSIVE WATCH: Shah Rukh Khan with Jonathan Ross

If you missed the special rendezvous between Bollywood King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Jonathan Ross on BBC One last night, watch it here again.

The interview is split in two parts, with a humrous special clip formed in a third part below. Courtesy of BBC, YouTube and YouTube member, MadDonnuh.

The interview coincides with the release of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's upcoming blockbuster, 'My Name Is Khan', which is produced by Karan Johar.

Part One


Part Two


Part Three

IN PICS: Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol at Raj & Pablo's Show in London

Audience knows Shahrukh and Kajol’s worth

When Karan Johar was asked why he has kept the promotion of My Name is Khan such a low key affair, Karan replied he has done maximum marketing for this film when compared to his two films like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

Meanwhile he also has his own take on affairs when it comes to added hype and buzz around the film.

Karan also has immense trust on Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. He has confidence on audience that they also know worth of such actors. So as a fillmaker he doesnot need to do unnecessary campaign to gain added attention.

Shahrukh Khan: The innerwear story!

After having traveled all the way from abroad where he was on a promotional tour for his film ‘MNIK’, one would have thought that Shahrukh would take it easy and sit back at home and relax. But no! This King had other plans up his sleeves and just within a few hours of landing in Mumbai, he was seen at a five star hotel there endorsing an innerwear from ‘Lux Cozi’ for a vest named ‘ONN’.There was a press meet after the launch and Shahrukh was open to all questions from the media and answered them with full confidence.

There was a hint of sadness in his answers too especially when he said that he had to clarify himself to the media abroad due to the problems that had erupted on his comments for the Pakistani players regarding the IPL. However he soon got back to his jovial self when he justified his decision to go for theinnerwear endorsement. He simply said that since his abs were more presentable now he did not mind endorsing the vest as he had to take his shirt off on the pretext of the ad. But on a more serious note he said that he liked the product as it was made from special quality soft cotton which was soft and cuddly and more over the company representative had said that it was a lucky brand. Even the tag line of theinnerwear is ‘Apna Luck Pahanke Chalo’which according to him suited him as his team of the IPL Kolkata Knight Riders needed all the luck this time.

Another reason given by him was that this brand was more economical than the original brand Reebok which had the rights to manufacture the KKR T- shirts but were beyond the common man’s reach. Even the fact that the company was based in Kolkata was of help as the mind set of the people was known to the company. According to reportsShahrukh also said that this launch had been planned well before two months as he wanted more visibility during this time which is the time for his new film to be released, so with the focus of two events in mind a very successful and high end launch and press meetShahrukh was a happy man at the end of the tiring day!

Shahrukh Khan speaks on ‘My Name is Khan’. Is it about religion or about romance?

‘My Name is Khan’, a Shahrukh-Kajol film directed by Karan Johar is the most awaited film of 2010 and it’s almost arrived with the release date of 12th February now only a stone’s throw away. Is the film about religion, a take on the Muslim community and how they are ill-treated or is it about romance between the DDLJ pair?

SRK, in an interview, opens up:

“The film is mainly entertainment. A film normally deals with lots of issues, comedy, or it’s a tragedy or a serious film or a dramatic love story like ‘…Khan’ is meant to be. If one starts talking or deciding on issues before a whole film is seen, it’s kinda not right to do, especially as a filmmaker.

Normally, a film is more than the sum of its parts. It’s not like it’s a love story, it’s got a Karan Johar touch to social cinema, it has an angle of religion, it also has a part of politics, it has a world-shaking incident as a backdrop, it also has a lot of sweet songs. It combines all that.”

So, gear up for the Valentine week and make sure you watch this SRK caper along with your loved ones. It’s surely going to tug at your hearts and give you something to take back home……

Obama a metaphor for change in film: SRK

Shah Rukh Khan says his new film portrays Barack Obama simply as a metaphor for "change", but he isn't knowledgeable enough in political matters to comment on how the US president has fared.

The actor does, however, believe that Obama seems "like a gentleman" and "speaks very well".

"What we wanted to do is not really show Barack Obama," he said talking about his new film My Name Is Khan (MNIK) in an interview with IANS over the phone from New York.

"We just wanted to use that as a metaphor for the change that is happening around everywhere, including America. I guess historically it's the first time that you have an Afro-American president," said Shah Rukh who was in the US to promote the film.

The film is set for release in the US Feb 12.

In it, Shah Rukh plays a Muslim Indian with Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism) living in the US, who marries a Hindu single mother, played by Kajol, but their marriage crumbles post-9/11 and he sets out to meet the US president for help in getting her back.

"Things which had not happened historically before are happening and one of the changes that can come along is peace and humanity in the world too," he said. "There was a choice: should we have the president, have a look-alike, there was a choice, should we use it metaphorically?"

"We chose the latter and didn't go for someone who looked like Mr.Barack Obama. We don't even mention it as Mr.Barack Obama in the film, actually," Shah Rukh said.

But when asked what he thought of Obama, the Bollywood star played a little coy. "I really have not that much knowledge about the politics of the world, to be really honest. (laughs) I'm a little untouched by it.

"But on the face of it, when I came to America last year for ...Khan, I think that's the time he was elected ... and one kind of was present during the time when everyone was talking wonderfully [about] how new things will happen..."

"...country's politics I'm not too sure of," Shah Rukh said. "He looks like a gentleman, amazingly presentable, speaks very well, so I can just talk about him as a viewer, not as a knowledgeable person about the intricacies of his policies and politics."

"I don't think the US has a perception in majority which is negative," he said when asked how he thought the US' perceptions of Islam would be affected by the fact that Obama's father himself was a Muslim.

"But when somebody is thwarted, the first reaction always is a little more, I won't say aggressive, but a little more volatile against X, Y, Z person or a group of people who've thwarted them," Shah Rukh said.

"May be what would really change the perception of the world about each other is having knowledge about each other.

"So may be the people here and the people in the Muslim world need to understand each other's religion and faith and the bottomline would be that each faith has a similar kind of discipline and goodness attached to it which normally says everybody should live life in a good way...and that's basically also the message of ...Khan."

Shah Rukh was fulsome in his praise of Christopher B. Duncan, who plays Obama in the film. "As an actor I think he's tremendous...very powerful actor," he said of the artiste known for his performance as Obama on the "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

"I was very impressed, I shot with him one day. Without wanting to sound patronising, Kajol and me thought he was an amazingly powerful actor."

'My Name Is Khan' won't make a statement: SRK

It has some religion, a bit of politics and it's set in the backdrop of a world shaking event, but for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan his latest venture is not so much about Islam post-9/11 as it is entertainment.

"The film is mainly entertainment," Shah Rukh said in a lengthy interview with IANS over the phone from New York on a trip last week to promote his new film, My Name Is Khan (MNIK), releasing in the US Feb 12.

"If some issue is taken back home, I always tell people if they can take back a little more than an empty pack of popcorn, that's interesting...that's an added advantage to an entertaining film."

Shah Rukh, who plays a Muslim Indian with Asperger's syndrome living in the US, finding his marriage to a Hindu single mother (played by Kajol) crumbling post-9/11, wouldn't agree that it's the Islam angle that is grabbing the most attention in the US.

"A film normally deals with lots of issues, comedy, or it's a tragedy or a serious film or a dramatic love story like ...Khan is meant to be," he said. "If one starts talking or deciding on issues before a whole film is seen, it's kinda not right to do, specially as a filmmaker.

"Normally, a film is more than the sum of its parts. It's not like it's a love story, it's got a Karan Johar touch to social cinema, it has an angle of religion, it also has a part of politics, it has a world-shaking incident as a backdrop, it also has a lot of sweet songs. It combines all that.

"To me as a filmmaker, or part of a film, any aspect of the film can only be decided once one has seen the whole film. But there's no denying that there is an aspect of religion in the film."

Nor would Shah Rukh look at this and other recent Bollywood films about the fate of Indian Muslims in the US post-9/11 as an effort to redress any negative images people may have formed about Islam over the last nine years.

"Films normally are for entertainment. One doesn't really make a conscious decision to make a statement with it. Within entertainment, if a statement gets made, it's really nice for a filmmaker.

"You know, maybe 3 Idiots talks about education, but it's an entertaining film. Similarly Chak De! India talks about patriotism, but it's a sports film.

"You can have issues related in a film, but when filmmakers of commercial proportions like Karan, myself and Kajol and all get together, it's not to highlight an issue because it's too expensive as a commercial venture to make a film about an issue and not entertain."

To Shah Rukh, "the most interesting part of the fact as an actor is that I'm playing a character who's got Asperger's. It's also not in any which way to show it in a light which is not nice...but for an actor that's a great thing to do, you know, to play a (person with a) disorder like this which very few people know about."

"Hopefully, I'll be able to convince people about it when they see (the film). I don't think at least commercial filmmakers from India really make a big-time film which is localised or even localised by an international issue," he said.

"Commercial we will only know once the film releases," said Shah Rukh when asked if MNIK isn't one of Karan Johar's least commercial offerings so far.

"...Yes, the only thing it has amiss is big set dance pieces, but we just felt with the disorder we were dealing with, it would look very unrealistic for the character Rizwan Khan to indulge in dancing of the order of we normally see in a Hindi film of Karan's, or you might have seen earlier.

"Except for that, I think the venture is extremely commercial," he said.

"In the last five years, there's a whole paradigm shift as to what people accept as a commercial film," Shah Rukh said describing it as "Karan's evolution from making and keeping up with the trends of new commercial cinema in India and elsewhere".

On professional challenges he faced during its filming, Shah Rukh said it was a "very difficult" character to play. "If I was to just put it simply, it's very seldom that I've really gone ahead and played a character which exists in real life.

"And whenever you're dealing with a disorder or a near...atypical situation, the first thought is that the sort of parameters you have to set that in no which way you are derogatory or deriding the disorder.

"You have to make the protagonist very proud of what it is. The second part is you have to come as close to reality in depicting that characterisation and so one had to study a lot and one does get worried..."

But a couple of people affected with the same disorder who were shown the film had told them "...it's a great portrayal, it's very close to someone with this kind of disorder".

"Of course, having said that, I have taken a few cinematic liberties with it, because I've used three or four traits which may not exist simultaneously in one person and tried to create one character who has Asperger's, called Rizwan Khan."