A wide variety of adjectives have been used to describe Shah Rukh Khan over the years, but politically correct, apologetic, or overly modest are certainly not amongst them. The superstar, who asserts that he doesn’t mean to miff anyone, manages to frequently rub a few the wrong way with his repartee and outspokenness. Equally, there’s no dearth of those who feel his frankness of expression and a devil-may-care approach, coupled with the ability to laugh at everything, including himself, make him one of India’s most endearing public figures. We think he’s as irreverent as it gets...
‘We should be able to laugh at ourselves’ There’s no dearth of instances where his sharp and often hugely funny one-liners have left those on the other end squirming, if not fuming. His take? “I feel that it has all been in good fun, in good taste. And for some specific instances, such as the remark that Amar Singh took offence to, I think at the point of time it was made, everyone took it in good spirit. Sometimes people think it over later and take it more seriously. But I have never stepped out of line, nor meant to offend.” Yet, that’s hardly a one-off instance, is it? “See, before I laugh at anyone, I laugh at myself. But I’ve realised that not everyone has a similar sense of humour, and they may take themselves more seriously. When that happens, I apologise, I don’t have any issue with that. I’ve even started sounding off people in the fraternity in advance now when I’m planning something funny, or a funny remark on them, so they don’t feel taken aback!”
What’s his take on those who don’t find his sense of irreverence comfortable? “I truly believe that as a nation, we should be able to laugh at ourselves. If you begin to take things, and yourself, too seriously, it begins to get to you, and slowly shows in your work as well. And humour cannot hurt anyone. My humour in any case is irreverent, not rude.”
And who cracks jokes at his expense? “Oh, the five-seven friends that I have, they do it all the time. Aziz Mirza, Farah, Karan, Juhi, Adi, we all joke about each other all the time, we all have quite a sense of humour. And yes, my kids crack a lot of jokes about me. They find a lot of things about me very funny, including the way I romance on screen!”
‘Take the bad times with a little humour’ But there’s more to the irreverent sense of humour than the gags and the wicked one-liners. That same sense stays with him through the lows and the tough times as well, in more ways than one would think.
“I’ve had tough times. I don’t cry about them. I make light of them instead. I don’t think God does anything to you which is permanent. And if you take it with a little humour, it will be easier to bear while it lasts... When I had my spinal surgery, I was very scared and very depressed to begin with. But most of the time, I would try to think light and funny thoughts. And they stayed with me.”
Probe further, and you realise that SRK’s fundamentals on not keeping a long face and keeping the sense of humour alive stretch a long way. “I believe that is easier to get by the saddest of situations with a sense of humour. The situation is not going to change by being upset. God forbid, but when we lose somebody, that situation is not going to change. It may sound a little mean and unattached, but even that situation will be easier to face if you can see some moments of lightness in that too. When my friends, such as Karan or Juhi, faced tough times or lost people close to them, I wasn’t just there wearing white and looking glum and giving them hugs. I was saying things and reminding them of the fun times and the happiness they shared with those whom they had lost. They later said I made it so much easier for them by being there...”
So, his friends would vouch for his ability to bring moments of lightness in their low moments? “Well, when my friends face emotional stress, they do often call me... I am, so to say, an emotional jester.” That’s not said in jest, for sure? “No. That’s not reducing it to a comic character. Being a jester is an important job. And if you can be a jester in your own life, that’s great. Everybody will see good and bad times. If you can see both of them with a sense of irreverence, play the jester in your life, you will not take yourself too seriously. It works for me, at least.”
‘I know what I don’t know’ An attitude of irreverence needs the confidence to accept what one doesn’t know. Modesty from the superstar? Not quite. “Just because my face is plastered everywhere does not make me more intelligent than others. But I am intelligent, extremely intelligent. That’s because I’m intelligent enough to know what I don’t know.”
Are “I don’t know” the three magic words for him, then? Almost. “The greatest gift I would like to give my children is the ability to turn around and say, ‘I don’t know’, and say it with confidence. I think that today we have the generation which works hard, tries to learn, and tries to achieve, and when they don’t know, they’re not scared to turn around and say, ‘I don’t know!’ That makes me feel good.”
‘I repeat myself, so?’ Talk of the irreverence-SRK connect and you can’t but wonder how many actors would spoof themselves in their own movies, as he recently did. “It is always better to justify the use of humour by using it on yourself first. The joke there is actually not on me. The joke is on everyone who thinks that I act in the same kind of films and smirks. It’s not as if I’m unaware. I find it funny myself, but I still do it! It’s a choice I make. The next time I don’t think those people will come up to me and tell me that I keep doing the same kind of movies, because now I’m telling them, I know it and I laugh at it myself, so?” Now that’s the quintessentially irreverent Shah Rukh ‘Rahul’ Khan for you, we guess!
‘I’m just honest’ There are occasions when he’s made statements about himself that range from the grand to the outrageous. Is it an ego trip, or just for effect, or an index of confident courage? None of these, he says, it’s just honesty. “When I first went up to collect the Filmfare Award for the best debut, Dilip saab had got the Lifetime Achievement Award. And I turned around after taking my award and said, ‘I would like to come here and receive a Lifetime Achievement award too, someday.’ And so many people asked me, how can you say something like that? But if I feel like that, I want that, why shouldn’t I say it? If I can’t do it, it won’t belittle me. There’s nothing wrong in saying what you feel.” None at all, is what we say!
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