Stardom means nothing to me, says Shah Rukh

With numerous mega-hits in his filmography which spans over two decades in Hindi cinema, Bollywood ‘Badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan sits pretty on the pinnacle of success, but says stardom means nothing to him.

“It (stardom) means nothing to me. All I know is to work from morning to night. I don’t know what it (stardom) means to me. I work almost 18 hours a day. The biggest thing in life is to define the reason for your success because I don’t know it.

I think you are dishonest if you explain it because I can’t pass it on to my daughter and son, nobody can,” SRK told PTI.

In 2012, ‘King’ Khan had only one release — Yash Chopra’s ’Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ opposite Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.

The film was a huge hit. Even this year, the superstar will have only Rohit Shetty’s ‘Chennai Express’ hitting the cinema houses.

On whether it is a conscious decision to slow down, SRK said, “No it is not... I do one film at a time. Now I like to do one film a year, take time off, sit with the kids. And I feel you can’t make four—five films a year. I think it spoils the quality. I want to do quality films. I want people to talk about my film whenever it comes out... be it good, bad or ugly.”

“I got injured in between and then Yashji (Yash Chopra) wanted me to start working on his film first so we waited for the girls to get free. I could afford to have started a film but I chose not to. So I spent time with kids. Before that I did ‘Don’ and ‘Ra.One’, both of which were action films... and it takes time,” the 47-year-old actor said.

“I wanted to start ‘Happy New Year’ in January... we were to start shooting for a song. But then I spoke to Farah (Khan) that we will start in one go and continue it. I told her ‘let me finish ‘Chennai Express’ in April—May and then start it’,” he added.

On whether injuries made him decide to do one film a year, SRK said, “No it is not like that at all. I don’t have problems with breathing or any other injury. I do films as they come. I can afford to do the film that I want to do at the time I wish to... I worked for it for 22 years.”

About ‘Chennai Express’, he said, “The film is a journey in the South. It is about how we believe our culture and languages are different but love conquers all. So it is a fun way to show that. It is a film which is fun, people meet from different zones.”

Citing an example, SRK said, “My mother is from Hyderabad and my father is from Peshawar and I have always noticed this funny act.. she used to speak in Hyderabadi and he used to speak in Pashtun. Different ideologies but love conquered all.

So the film is a treatment of a romance in the travel down South of a man who is from North.”

The story is about a man’s journey from Mumbai to Rameshwaram and what happens on the way. The romantic comedy, also starring Deepika Padukone, is scheduled to release this year.

On the relatable characters that he has portrayed in his filmy career, Shah Rukh said, “I do the film character as a job. If I am given a character to play I do it with the best of my ability. I live it, believe in it, just do it, then leave it and let go off to do another one.”

“I liked doing Chak De , I liked Mohan Bhargav ( Swades ), Rahul and Raj from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayega respectively, Sunil in Darr ,” he said.

“If you mix it all then I am a confused personality. None of the roles that I have played till now are close to me. But all of them take upon experiences of what I have seen, read or felt in my life, none of them is far removed from them. I think every actor when essaying a role is about an experience or thought or believe he or she has. I also liked ‘My Name is Khan’ but I am not any of my characters,” he added.