Shah Rukh Khan  [ Posted on 25 Nov 2007 ]

It sounds unreal. It is so much like the story of a film. I am a film. I came to this city when I was a nobody. And hen things just started happening. I was recognized s an actor. I found reasons to know that I could succeed. I couldn`t believe what was happening to me. I was a star. I had an apartment. I had cars, I had a staff. And then there was more success in my life. I was called a super star and I couldn`t believe it. I had this bungalow `Mannat`. I had my own production company. It was all so unbelievable. I couldn`t imagine senior stars like Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor who I had only dreamt of seeing one day touching my cheeks and ruffling my hair. I couldn`t imagine Amitabh Bachchan embracing me. I couldn`t believe I was seeing Aamir Khan in flesh and blood. I couldn`t imagine to see a huge crowd waiting outside my house to have a glimpse of me. I couldn`t understand why people were interested in writing books about me. I couldn`t understand girls of all ages screaming when they saw me and boys trying to be like me. I couldn`t believe all this was happening to Shah Rukh Khan who was a nobody once. I couldn`t understand why they should have my statues in wax at Madam Tussauds. All this and everything else happening to me was a dream. It was like seeing the story of man in a film. I sometimes really believe I am like a hit film. Lets talk about your `Om Shanti Om` your own production. I always had this feeling of giving back what the industry has given me in such an ample measure. I had everything. I had all that I needed and much more. I had not other ambitions, no other major desires. I had no lust for power and no major vices to squander money on. I didn`t understand any other business or way of life. I only knew films and a little about sports. I decided to put my money into making films and making films for every kind of audience. That is how I started Red Chilies Entertainment, my own production company. Why Red Chilies as the name of a film making banner? I did not want my name anywhere in the banner. I did not want anything filmy about the banner. I felt that it should have nothing to do with films and still be a part of films. I felt if Apple could be the name of a computer company then why not Red Chilies as the name of my company. And Red Chilies it was and will be as long as I produce films. You have been producing different kinds of films and have now come up with a very ambitious film like `Om Shanti Om`. Is there any plan or method in the way you go about making your films? It all depends on what people expect from me. Some one says I have not made a particular kind of a film and I go right ahead and make that kind of a film. You will see that all the films I have produced till now have been very different from my previous films. Now they said I have not made a really big entertainment extravaganza as they call it. And `Om Shanti Om` is my reaction to their expectations, you may say. When did the idea of making `Om Shanti Om` first come to you? It was Farah Khan who was directing `Main Hoon Na` who first talked about the subject. I found it interesting but I asked her to hold on as we were planning another film. Somehow that film did not happen and we thought of `Om Shanti Om` again. Right from the start, Farah said it would be a film which would have its starting point somewhere in Subhash Ghai`s `Karz` made in the late 70s. I found it interesting as I had loved `Karz` in my young days. We worked on the idea which was turned into a tight script and the result was `Om Shanti Om` which I would like to describe as a story about reincarnation with a strong dash of comedy. It was a new genre of film we were experimenting with and somehow I was sure it would work. How did you go about making the film? I left it all in Farah`s hands. She was the captain, after all. We started shooting on January 7, 2007 and we were through by May except for some patch work. We completed the film in 109 days flat which is quite an achievement for a film made on such an ambitious scale. It was possible because we had everything planned. We had a `Ghar ka Hero` a new heroine, Deepika and friends like Arjun Rampal and Shreyas Talpade who had given us all the dates we wanted and willing to make any adjustments. We did not have to go outdoor or out of the county to shoot the film. We shot the entire film on true to life sets built at Film City and Yash Raj Studios. We kept the huge sets standing for months because we never knew when we would need them next. We had to make two different periods come alive, the ambience of the 70s and the times today. It was a story of reincarnation where the hero lives in the first half in the 70s and is reborn in the times today. I think our art director has done a fantastic job. If you ask me the entire team of Red Chilies has done a fantastic job collectively. That is why I think we have made a fantastic film which is literally out of this world and so unreal but that is exactly the high point of the film, the unreal made so very unreal. Do you believe in reincarnation yourself? I don`t think I have reached a stage when I can think about of such serious matters, I will think about it seriously at the right time. But for my film, I would like to believe in it and I would love every one to believe in it. Farah has made the film in such a way that even the most hardened non-believers will be tempted to believe in reincarnation. Your music seems to be another high point. The two young music directors Vishal and Shekhar together with Javed Akhtar Sahab have created music that will play for long and haunt people for a longer time. Incidentally we also have a song which has been composed with the participation of a great composer of the 70s, Pyarelal who worked on the music just like they did in those days with a hundred strong orchestra and all of that. Music had to play a very important part in a film like this and I am very happy with the music which goes very well with the spirit of the film. What about your role in the film? I have just done whatever my director asked me to do. She asked me to dance, I danced. She wanted me to play an idiot; I think I did it very well. She wanted me to be a super star; I didn`t have to work very hard to be one. She asked me to die and I died very well. She asked me to live again and I did all that I could do to rise and live a new life all over again. She wanted me to have a six-pack body and I spent three months to give my body that shape. She asked me to throw away my shirt and I did it only for Farah Khan, not even because it was my own film. I think I have done quite well for myself. Let us see what people who love me and even those who don`t take a liking for me react after seeing all the hard work I have put in. What has been your job as a producer? I have never made my films with money borrowed from anyone. I make them with my own hard earned money. It is only after I have completed a film that I show what I have made to the various buyers. If they like what they see, they buy it, if they don`t; I try my luck with other buyers. Thank God, I have had no problems in selling any of my films till now. I think the buyers know what I have spent money in making my film and they are quite confident that they too will get their returns. Even a small film I made, `Paheli`, which went to the Oscars, got me six crores of rupees which I have spent on `Om Shanti Om`. I don`t believe in hoarding money, I don`t need more money, God has been very kind, I feel all I need money is to make more and good films. Have you learned the art of promoting your film? Yes, I am learning. Some learned people say I am a very clever strategist but I know little or nothing about the way films are promoted these days. They don`t know I am still learning. I know marketing is as important as making a film nowadays. You can make the most expensive and mind-blowing film but you have to convince the audience that you have made a great film with all the sources available, teasers, promos, events, public appearances and making an impact and wherever there are huge crowds. You have to arouse the curiosity of the audiences to such an extent that they make up their minds to watch your film first when it is released, making it their first priority. I have tried all this with `Om Shanti Om` and am waiting to see the response. I am told you are having the premiere of the film at Leicester Square in London? I am having two shows in Mumbai for all those 33 stars who have worked in my film and made guest appearances. And then I am flying out tonight to London where I am having a premiere. I know I have made a great film and I have no doubt in my mind that it will be a very big hit. And my son Aryan who is my critic and already a master at predicting the fate of a film also says that it will be a big hit. I believe in him. I believe in my film. What next on the agenda for Red Chilies Entertainment? We are all waiting for the release of `Om Shanti Om` and knowing that we have made a film which will click; we are planning to go ahead with some new plans. I plan to make one big film with myself and then break new grounds by giving opportunities to new directors and artistes to make some films which will be different from all the films being made today. What about Shah Rukh Khan, the `King Khan`? I have worked hard all these years and I will never stop working hard, however big people say I have become. I only know one thing and that is acting and I will continue acting till the last breath of my life, even if I have to stand in a crowd. Any chance of seeing SRK as a director in the future? Do you think I am so clever? I don`t think I am qualified in any way to make it as a director. I am happy the way I am and I am not as ambitious as some people think. I know my limitations and that is what keeps me going.

Posted By : Iftnewsdesk