Shah Rukh Khan...not shaken, not stirred. Filmfare gets a heady feeling

We've seen you working out of your skin over the past few days. Does that stretch you out?
Ra.One is almost complete, barring a few days of polishing, touching up and reshooting. There are times when I go home, sit in my bathroom and stare out of the window feeling completely drained both mentally and physically. But it's at such times when you feel most exhausted that you have to put in that extra effort and finish a job. There have been countless times when I've complained to my director and production team that I'm tired of making this film. But then I realise that everyone around me is as tired. I tell my team that when both he and his team mates are tired, it's up to one of them to push the others and complete the work. Because it's that last ounce of strength, which makes you truly successful. And, God forbid, even if things go wrong, you don't feel guilty that you didn't try hard enough. Recently, I read an interview with a big star saying that he wanted a holiday. And I instantly told myself, I need to work more, work harder and get things finished. If you ask me, I'd say I am running two days late in life. If I can get those two days from somewhere, I'll be on schedule.

Do you ever lose your cool?

Maybe once or twice a year. But then I feel bad. I feel guilty after I'm angry. Ninety per cent of the people who've worked with me, genuinely love me. So when they see me hurt, they don't like it. My kids are like that too. The other day I asked Aryan for a packet of chips and he just chucked it. I was looking the other way and it hit my face. So I reprimanded him. He got upset and wouldn't speak to me. Then he asked whether I was serious. I told him that he had to behave himself.  He got so emotional and the whole house got emotional. So I just told myself that I won't lose my temper. Because, when you get angry it hurts others emotionally. On the sets, if I don't like someone I'm nicest to them. So they're confused. While they're being mean, I'm still cordial. Some of them think I take a lot of shit, others think I am spineless because I don't react. The thing is, if I'm really nice to you, I've overcome you. I don't want to deal with you anymore in my life. When you overcome someone, the desire to be angry with them doesn't exist any more. I only get angry with people who really matter to me. Actually, the only time you show true love is when you're angry with someone. I'm angry because I'm concerned that you are doing things that are not right and I want you to do otherwise. Anger is one of the most beautiful expressions of love and concern. 

How different will Ra.One be in terms of technology?
I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done before. Yes, it has state-of-the-art CGI and a superhero concept but that's been seen earlier. What is unique is the superhero setting in an Indian film, the spectacular action, exhilarating stuff that isn't our regular Hindi movie fare. What will be path-breaking is the quality of cinema. I'm in pursuit of quality within my specific budget. If I can achieve that, then this film will be path-breaking, something future filmmakers could follow. 

I've been saying this for a while now, if we don't adapt new movie making technology, Indian audiences will stop watching Indian films. We are among the few countries that have local cinema. Let's not lose that. I hope in a small way I can influence that. My film will be like a visiting card that says here is www.technology.com, please visit it and make use of it. I might have had foreign guys flown in to supervise the work but this is going to be an indigenous Indian CGI film. The entire VFX process has been done in my office. There are roughly 3800 VFX shots in this film, some you may not even realise are CGI, but most importantly all are done by Indians. In that way, it's path-breaking because once the film is released, 250 Indians who've worked under the supervision of Oscar winners will be as adept as their foreign counterparts and 10 will be as good supervisors as those who were flown in from abroad.

What are your personal expectations from the film?
Ra.One is heartwarming and sweet. For me this would've worked even without the special effects. I'm making this film for my kids and their friends. The last film of mine they liked was Chak De! India. And I really want them to like this film too. Everytime I saw a movie like Krrish or Drona or any other foreign super hero film, I wished I could've made something like that for my kids. I really hope my kids and other kids like this film. This is a film according to my sensibilities. Most people and friends who've seen the rushes have been surprised. My wife and I saw Spider-Man with the kids. The kids loved it and wanted to see it again but my wife said she couldn't. So my aim was to make a movie that the parents would like and watch again. I'm not a serious man so I will never be able to make a Taare Zameen Par. This is my genuine ode to fathers. In our movies the mother is always deified but where is the dad? I just wanted to make a film where dads feel cool.

So how do you feel when movies like Robot that you'd rejected do overwhelming business? Do you regret not doing them?
I have a simple logic, if it's mine it's the best and if it's not mine it doesn't matter. I don't have an iota of ill will against anyone.  My work does bother me; obviously I say to myself that I could have done this better. But others' success or failure does not bother me. I'm happy that movies like
3 Idiots and Robot did well and it doesn't matter that I did not do them. Similarly, Baazigar, Deewana, Darr and Chamatkar weren't meant to be my films but I did them. Aditya Chopra had told me that he'd love me to do Dilwale… otherwise Saif Ali Khan would do it. You win some and you lose some. But if I wasn't in the race, how could I win or lose? I told Rajkumar Hirani the other day that I couldn't have done Munnabhai as well as Sanju (Sanjay Dutt). Certain things are meant for certain people.

You've always been compared to Aamir Khan and Salman Khan.
I wrote an article in which I said I'm the outsider insider. And I've always been strangely outside. How can you compare me with Amitabh Bachchan or Akshay Kumar or some new guy who hasn't even started his career yet? That's our mentality. We just want to compare. How many times do we hear that Tom Cruise is better than Brad Pitt? When I came into the industry Salman and Aamir were big stars. I've never compared myself to them not because I think I'm better than them but because I too have been around for 20 years. I've worked with them, around them and made a place for myself. Then suddenly they said I'd filled the void of a superstar. After that they started comparing Ajay Devgn and me because of which the two of us didn't speak for years. Ajay's a sweet guy, now I know him better because of Kajol. It's weird that we never spoke to each other and yet comparisons were creating issues between us. Then there were comparisons with Mukul Dev, Chandrachur Singh and Suneil Shetty. Hrithik Roshan and I were supposed to have had a spat over him usurping my stardom. Hrithik is a good friend. These things have been going on for 20 years now.

Anuradha Choudhary

Toonpur Ka Superrhero