He looks relaxed. A smile plays on his lips, the swagger is a lot more confident and the eyes seem to twinkle a little bit more. Shah Rukh Khan was a happy man when t2 met him at Delhi’s Hotel Crowne Plaza on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. Rs 100cr-plus happy. Over the next 40 minutes and in between numerous cups of strong black coffee, SRK spoke Chennai Express, crores and critics.

There’s been a general opinion that with Chennai Express Shah Rukh Khan has tried to reorganise himself as an actor…

There’s never been an attempt to reorganise as an actor. I just do the films I like... that appeal to my heart. Yesterday I was reading something on the Internet... I normally don’t read stuff written about myself apart from when I am feeling very pompous and want to bring myself down a peg or two (smiles). This article said: ‘Despite his last four films having made an ‘x’ amount of money, SRK is back to being the king with Chennai Express. I don’t agree with this at all. The simplest way of looking at my work is that I do the films that excite me enough to want to be with them for one year.

From the outside if anyone wants to look at my life, everything’s been done over the last 22 years. I have done 55 really wonderful films... some fantastic, some not so fantastic box-office wise and appreciation wise. All kinds of awards, national or international, I have got. The only thing that I want now as an actor, a producer and then as a filmmaker sometime in the future, is that I want my children to be very proud of my work. That’s my only criterion. I have always said this: never work for posterity or prosperity. Money no longer matters.

I don’t have any strategy... I don’t sit down with any PR, any planner, any manager, any producer, any director. Actresses who work with me for the first time… Katrina (Kaif), Priyanka (Chopra)… Deepika (Padukone) who worked with me after a long time… are shocked that I don’t use the phone at all… I am not planning. I hear a story and I like it a lot. Sometimes what I like is liked by a billion, sometimes not.

Chennai Express, I knew, was a popular format and so we released it on a holiday as it had elements that would appeal to everyone in most age groups. Like Farah’s (Khan) film (Happy New Year) that will come next Diwali, Inshaallah… you know it’s a festive period and it should be a fun, happy film.

Some people ask me if Chennai Express has been the riskiest film of my career. I feel that Ra.One was a bigger risk and so was Chak De! (India) and Paheli. But I never thought of them as risks… I felt like doing them. Just like I felt like doing Chennai Express, Jab Tak Hai Jaan or Don. My Name Is Khan was an even bigger risk... 60 per cent of it was in English, shot in America and surprising for most people that Karan Johar, Shah Rukh and Kajol are not making a love story. Take a film like Ra.One that has been the most expensive film anyone could make. The theme of the film was probably the 10th most discussed topic by 0.01 per cent of the Indian population! (Smiles) Comics don’t sell here. People are wary of a superhero in tights. But I wanted to make it for my children who watch Iron Man and Superman and love those films… I wanted to make it to set up my VFX studio. I told my wife (Gauri) one morning that I wanted to make this film, but it could lose money and I wanted to make it to set up the VFX. She was like: ‘I think you deserve to. You’ve worked so hard… have a good shopping spree.’ All my films stem from a personal desire to make myself happy.

Despite the crores, reviews have been scathing… probably the worst you have received in your 22-year-old career.

I think it’s very stupid to measure different kind of cinema on the same platform. Are you going to critically comment on the social relevance of a film like Iron Man? If I were to review it, I would have started criticising Iron Man right from the beginning… like how can a man with an iron heart fly around? How can he live on a cliff and have these issues? Why is he a multi-millionaire? I mean, there are so many things… Tony Stark is a completely wrong character. But we all enjoy the films… they earn millions at the box office and critics appreciate them too. Some critics come in with a preconceived idea of how a film should be. I feel you should just go and enjoy the film first.

But given how well-spoken and well-read you are off screen, don’t you think people expect the same out of your cinema?

I want to tell people that you need to laugh at yourself. I am well-read, well-educated and well-informed. I am a good thinker also… in my own space. I have a lot of thoughts, I have good thoughts. I read all the good literature, I read poems, I watch films from around the world. I get the tapes when they are submitted for Oscars… I ask my friends to send them. I think, intellectualism the simpler you make it, the better it is.

I’ll tell you honestly, it’s more difficult and more creative to make a film like Chennai Express. In Ra.One, I was a superhero and I could run over cars. In Chennai Express, I wasn’t a superhero and you can’t imagine how much I had to convince myself that a car could fly over my head! Because here you are dealing with the implausible, it requires far more work to convince yourself as well as the audience. I do try to create a balance… when people wanted to see a fun, clean film… I did Chennai Express. At this point, I have a few ideas in my head that cannot be measured commerce-wise on the same parameters as Chennai Express. And I want to make a point with that. I am now hoping to do what I guess people will believe is a more intellectual film. (Smiles)

You’ve also been saying that you are being deliberately targeted by the media. Why do you feel that?

See, some sections of the media are now going on and on and it’s starting to become obvious that there is an agenda somewhere. Sex determination and surrogacy are very serious issues and I don’t appreciate how some people try to make it un-serious. I really don’t have a problem with tabloids and websites that criticise my clothes or my shoes…. Like this magazine wrote about how my designer got angry because I repeated the same pair of shoes in successive events (laughs). But there are serious issues that need some respect. I can’t dissociate myself from media because I am media. If a tabloid writes about how I got out of a car with a girl, I won’t complain to them because that’s their world. I know it’s fun and a little tongue-in-cheek and we have to accept each other. But some lines have to be drawn sometimes. Like talking about the sex determination of my child (AbRam) without knowing the details is not humane.

Is it true that you are looking at Chennai Express as the fund to make a series of smaller films now?

Yes, that’s true. For example, if I was to back a film, for say Rs 30 crore, it makes more sense for me to make a film like Chennai Express, earn a lot of money and then put it into a small-budget, quality film. So, in a way, Chennai Express becomes the bank… the rider film for other productions. Mashaallah, this is fantastic for us because Chennai Express is doing very well. So between this and Happy New Year, I will make smaller films… now I have the confidence to do that. What I make now will be interesting cinema.

You promoted Chennai Express far more than any film you have ever done…

I don’t think I did much more than what I do for my other films. But yes, the scope and theme of this film was such that I could go on various platforms and promote it. I could go to a game show, a girlie show, a song-and-dance show, a family show and even a comedy show and talk about the film. It’s a cabaret… a variety kind of film where you have doses of everything. You can’t do the same with Chak De! or My Name Is Khan or Don. The one thing for sure is that the platforms on which I promote my film have to be suitable. After Ra.One, Red Chillies changed the notion of how one should associate a film with products. I think we had 32 tie-ups for Ra.One, like how it’s done in the West. For Chennai Express, after the music release, we decided to do this extensive promotion across all platforms for three days… all print, all television, all websites, all radio. We then went quiet till the trailer came out and let people soak it in. And then, we did the same publicity blitz, but this time city-wise. And it paid off (smiles).

You’ve also rejected the idea of a sequel to Chennai Express. Isn’t there the temptation to cash in on a successful franchise?

No, I don’t think a sequel to Chennai Express is possible because then you would have to pick two different languages and regions to set up a clash. Don is the only franchise I really like… it’s the only franchise in the world where the bad guy is winning each time and people are rooting for him. It’s fantastic… I would love to do it again. But Farhan’s (Akhtar, the director of the Don films) taking time to plan Don 3. He is trying to make time for it… because it’s a film so close to his heart, he wants to write the dialogues, he wants to do everything.

‘You need to laugh at yourself,’ says Shah Rukh. Is that why Chennai Express spoofs his own films — and some more? A t2 list

KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM

The opening scene where Rahul (Shah Rukh) narrates the story of his life is a nod to his 2001 hit Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham where Rahul’s (again Shah Rukh!) childhood is depicted in pictures that come alive once the camera zooms in. Plus, SRK’s home in Chennai Express was more or less a carbon copy of the K3G mansion.

DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE

In a throwback to the iconic DDLJ scene, Meenamma runs to latch on to Rahul’s outstretched hand to hop into a train pulling out of the station. But because this is a comedy, there’s a twist. Rahul pulls Meenamma in and then stretches his hand out again and again and again to pull in one goon after another. LOL!

Also, towards the climax, Rahul enters Meenamma’s dad Sathyaraj’s den to face the gigantic Thangaballi (Nikitin Dheer) and his goons. While Rahul is beaten up, Meenamma’s father holds on to her hand just like Amrish Puri held on to Simran’s (Kajol) while Shah Rukh’s Raj was being beaten up.

DIL TO PAGAL HAI

Once Meenamma (Deepika Padukone), along with her father’s goons, boards the train, Rahul introduces himself with: “Rahul, naam toh suna nahin hoga?” Remember SRK’s Rahul telling Pooja (Madhuri Dixit) in Dil To Pagal Hai: “Rahul, naam toh suna hoga?” 

MY NAME IS KHAN

Remember “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”? In Chennai Express, Rahul lands in a boat run by smugglers who illegally ferry oil from India to Sri Lanka only to be caught by the cops on international waters without a passport. SRK’s smart one-liner? “My name is Rahul and I am not a terrorist!”

RA.ONE

When Rahul and Meenamma are ‘talking’ through songs, Thangaballi pipes up with Chammak challo from Ra.One. SRK songs come up many more times in their “conversations”, from Tujhe dekha toh yeh jana sanam to Aankhon mein teri ajab si.

AGNEEPATH

In the climax, Rahul is beaten black and blue by Thangaballi and when everyone thinks the fight is over, he slowly gets up and fights back. The scene is a distinct nod to the Agneepath climax, starring Hrithik Roshan. As it is to Ghulam and Satte Pe Satta.

SINGHAM

Rahul is surrounded by goons and sees no escape route. He turns to a hunk and calls him Singham — Ajay Devgn’s name in the Rohit Shetty film — so that he lets him go!

DIL SE

Rahul and Meenamma flee from her village as she doesn’t want to marry Thangaballi but are caught by her dad’s goons. To throw off the Tamil-speaking goons, the two converse in songs where Rahul sings Dil Se’s Jiya jale (picturised on Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta) and even says to Thangaballi — “Sirjee, direct dil se’.

Which spoof did you like the most? Tell t2@abp.in

Priyanka Roy

Post-Chennai Express, what kind of films should Shah Rukh Khan do? Tell t2@abp.in