Shah Rukh Khan had made a rule for himself - never kiss on screen, but he has made an exception for Yash Chopra's "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" (JTHJ). The superstar says he was "forced" to kiss this time, and says it was only a demand of the script.

"I had a couple of rules actually - that I won't ride a horse and I won't kiss. Both are cumbersome. I don't know how to do both on screen," Shah Rukh said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2012 here Friday.

Ever since the release of Yash Chopra's directorial JTHJ Tuesday, social networking platforms have been abuzz about the kiss scene between Shah Rukh and Katrina Kaif. So, moderator Vir Sanghvi, on behalf of Twitterati, asked SRK: How come he kissed this time!

"I will be very honest. Adi (Aditya Chopra), Yash ji and Katrina, and I say this with all humility and thankfulness to them, that they knew I was awkward, I had issues and I am a very easy actor to work with. They are like my family and they said, 'You don't have to do this' and then they got together and they forced me and then even paid me for it."

"So... when heroines say that 'I wore a bikini because the story demanded me to', I did it (the kiss) because the story demanded it. Believe me or don't believe it," said the 47-year-old actor, who has been in showbiz for over two decades.

Shah Rukh feels doing something as intimate as a kiss on screen, is mechanical.

"It is very mechanical with 100 people telling you what to do. It's very odd. I don't even do photoshoots with heroines if it is not for my film and that is also rude, but I don't want to waste anyone's time. I find it very awkward taking my shirt off and posing. I can do it in character for film," he said.

But JTHJ was "extremely special because of Yash ji".

"He spoke to everyone and he said 'Shah Rukh, this is a requirement'," recollected Shah Rukh.

The actor was extremely close to the late filmmaker, who breathed his last Oct 21 following dengue and subsequent multi-organ failure.