Shah Rukh Khan with Deepika Padukone at the Chennai Express trailer launch in Mumbai on Thursday

There’s a famous joke in the Mumbai media circles about this one event at Taj Lands End hotel where Shah Rukh Khan was a couple of hours late and the PYT hosting the show quipped: “Please bear with us, Mr Khan is stuck in bad traffic!” Well, there couldn’t possibly have been any traffic delay because King Khan’s bungalow Mannat is right next door!

In fact, most of Shah Rukh’s events are always organised at the Lands End so that he can just trot over. But then he is SRK and if he is not late for an event, there’s something not quite SRK about it. So, even on Friday afternoon, Shah Rukh landed up one-and-a-half hours late for his interview with t2 on Chennai Express. The right hand sling back on — post the shoulder operation — and wearing shades — “I’m sorry, but with this I can see both near and far” — and that super-sexy Jab Tak Hai Jaan beard in place, he sat down with his mug of black coffee and Classic cigarette packet to talk movies and stardom, compulsions and choices.

Over to the King...

You usually work with your director friends like Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Farah Khan and Aditya Chopra. This is the first time in a long time that you are going out of your comfort zone and working with an ‘outside’ director. Is it because of the success story of Rohit Shetty?

Farah, Farhan, Karan... they are so busy acting these days and doing so much TV… when will they make films? (Laughs out loud) Actually it’s not like that. People think it’s like that. But if you see, I have worked in the first films of Karan and Farah and Adi. What you can say is that I am working with an already established director like Rohit for the first time. Shimit (Amin) had already done a film before we did Chak De! India. Farhan too. So there’s no such binding as such.

But the director does need to be your friend before you work with him...

Yes, I need to spend time with him before we work together. Like I have spent one-and-a-half years with Vishal Bhardwaj even though we are yet to work together. Also with directors like Anurag Basu and (Anurag) Kashyap, I have spent a lot of time discussing scripts and ideas. ‘Kuch sunao… kuch aur sunao!’ I don’t take on a film as a proposal, ki abhi yehi sahi hai. No, not like that. There are directors who come to me and say: ‘Tere liye nahin hai, aise hi baithtey hain.’ I have been party to many scripts which have done well. I never tell the actors or actresses, but I listen to those scripts. Poora nahin sunta hoon, bore ho jaata hoon. (Winks from behind the shades)

What has been your experience of working with Rohit Shetty?

I have seen just a couple of Rohit’s films. I had really loved Golmaal 3 and All The Best. When I met him, he came across as very different from what I had imagined an action comedy director would be. I found him to be extremely sharp and intelligent. And when I met his team, it seemed like one big family.

Once I started shooting with him, I realised that he has these 200 people with whom he has worked in the last five films. It’s a personal thing for him and maybe I shouldn’t say too much about it, but it’s so nice of him to do that. There are so many filmmakers who become big and leave their teams behind. But Rohit has been moving ahead with them. There are a few in his team who are still learning. And he is like, main sikhaata rahoonga.

Also, he is very organised. With comedies what happens is that they can go all over the place unless you have proper shot divisions in place. Actually, when Deepika (Padukone) and me went to the sets of Chennai Express for the first time, at Mehboob Studios, we discovered that Rohit had already shot the four scenes, which we were supposed to do, with stand-in actors. And those same actors played the same characters for the 150 days of shoot!

We got used to this set-up and we would come in in the morning and say: ‘Chalo dikhao!’ Of course, sometimes we would tweak the blocking a bit but it would largely be that. It would save a lot of time and give us the option of so many extra takes. You need those extra takes in comedy as you are not sure whether you got the joke right the first time and would ask around whether the delivery and reaction worked. With action and emotional scenes, you know instantly. With comedy, you are not sure.

Your character Rahul announces at the beginning of the film — and even in the trailer — that you are 40. Why highlight the age?

When we have a character, we are always trying to figure out what all we need to tell the audience about the character. Whether he is in college, whether he is a gunda, aiyaash hai, kya hai.... For this particular story it was important to tell people that this man is 40 and hasn’t married and has stayed in a protected environment all his life. So the picture starts with: ‘Rahul… naam toh suna hi nahin hoga…. Main chaalis saal ka ho gaya aur itni umar mein ek aadha twist aa hi jaata hai.’ Then he goes back and talks about his life. That he is not married even at 40 is actually a very funny track in the film. Bahut hi funny hai… some of the set-pieces are hilarious. Family-wise funny hai… I have done a film like this after a long time… verbal comedy, situational comedy.

Are you as excited about this one as you were about Ra.One, given that both are home productions?

It’s never like I am excited about one particular film more than the other. I must have told you this before that I look at my films like my daughter. They have their own life. You can work hard for them, you can take care of them, but once they leave you, how much they are loved by others is beyond your control. And it’s unfair too, to expect others to love your children as much as you do. You have to let them be. But sometimes, the ones that don’t do well become dearer. What do you call them? Differently abled? There’s something not fully well about them and so they become that much more close. I had heard Raj Kapoorsaab say this once… that films which don’t do well are the ones you love more.

As for Chennai Express vis-a-vis Ra.One, this is more of an actor’s film. When I had expressed the wish to do a Ra.One, no one came forward to produce it. It was a difficult film to make and I made it myself. See, whenever a film comes to me, it has to first excite me as an actor. Unfortunately. The production call is never as a producer. My choice to produce a film is obviously secondary to me as an actor.

The bitterness with the Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara team has been brewing since the IPL days. And now this date fight. It happens to you almost every time!

(Laughs mildly) Firstly, let me clarify I am nobody to say when you will release your film. How can I tell you when to admit your kid to school? Aapka bachha hai, aapko jo karna hai karo. Main kabhi nahin bolta hoon. When my films release, I do believe that there are no other films in the world. I don’t know whether it’s right or wrong to think like that. But that’s what I truly believe. Yehi hai jo hai. Mine is the world’s most beautiful film because it’s mine. Obviously there’s a bias and I can’t take that bias out. Now if someone is releasing their film on the same day, well, God bless you.

I’ll tell you what happened during Jab Tak Hai Jaan. At that time what mattered most was that it was Yashji’s (Chopra) last release; he had just passed away. It didn’t really matter then whose film was coming at that time. I am not saying this in a derogatory way or to insult anybody. I never had an issue with Son of Sardaar. I was not even in the capacity of a producer. This time I am the producer. So I can talk to another producer when two releases clash on the same date. Like I had gone to Sanjay (Leela Bhansali) when Om Shanti Om and Saawariya were releasing the same day. But he couldn’t do anything about it. Even during Don and Jaan-e-Mann, my producer had requested to go and talk and so I did. Even then nothing could be done.

This time, I know Ekta and Jeetusaab (Jeetendra) personally. I spoke to him a week back and he was okay with either August 8 or 15. So I told him ki mujhe 8th ko kar lene dijiye kyun ki Id hai. He understood that even the August 15 weekend is as good and we worked it out.

This is your first Id release. You have had so many releases during Diwali. Do these festive releases work better? Do you have a theory or superstition around this?

Actually, how it works is that it depends on which religious festivity is happening and the number of people that attend it. Diwali is, in fact, a bad day to release a film. Because there’s puja and a huge part of the country is involved with the festival. With Id, the number of people celebrating it is much less. So, the holidays which involve smaller religious groups or sentiments, I think, are better. Christmas and Id are more friendly release dates, logically. Diwali is a very bad day. The pre-Diwali sales are very good and then there’s a drop of more than 30 per cent on Diwali day and people start jumping the gun, saying picture toot gayi, toot gayi, toot gayi.

You took risks with Don 2 and Ra.One, but do you think your fans would rather see you in something like a Chennai Express?

My last release was Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which was a typical love story by Yashji but even in his space much more subtle. Before that was Don 2, which was, yes, a little westernised. Before that was Ra.One, a superhero film. And before that was My Name is Khan. Now, if you put the posters of these films next to each other and also have Chennai Express next to it, I think I have been able to do whatever I can within the parameters of my stardom.

You know, 50 per cent of the directors who do different films come to me and say, now we want to make a commercial film with you. That’s why I don’t end up working with them. Because if I want to do a commercial film, I’ll do it with a commercial director. Tum alag banana chaho, toh banao… take a chance. My theory is that make one film and put everything in it and wait. That is more gutsy… as an actor, as a producer. Khuda na khasta agar theek nahin huyee, toh it’s like abhi agli banani hai. Of course, dus baatein sunni padti hai… time khatam ho gaya, yeh hua, woh hua. You need to resist that and move on.

Deepika in her first film (Om Shanti Om) and Deepika now — how much has she evolved as an actress?

I think it will be patronising if I talk about her personally. Each actor has a special quality. The fact that she was there in Om Shanti Om, the fact that it was her first film, the fact that 60-70 per cent of the goodness of that film came from her... to me she is a wonderful actor. She is the very epitome of an Indian film heroine, not just here but anywhere in the world. Tall, big eyes, dances fantastically, looks good in western clothes and Indian clothes, lovely to deal with… she is the epitome of what a lady star should be like.

Also, over the years she has allowed people to let herself be moulded like the way they desire. It’s a very big quality for an actor. See, there’s a star quality which comes with me. In the way I am talking to you, in the way I am behaving with you. Now that is difficult to break when you are playing a character. Like all directors request me to do the haath-waala shot [arms spread wide]. ‘Sir ek baar toh karenge!’ The fact that after so many films Deepika is so mouldable, it’s an amazing quality. I think she is in the best phase of her career where she has not yet been caught by the demands from a star. ‘Ki Deepika ki ek sexy dance chahiye’ ya ‘Deepika ki baal khule hone chahiye’ ya ‘Deepika should wear western clothes’. People love her in totality and not any aspect of her.

The IPL just got over. While KKR did win a few matches, they never really looked like serious contenders for the cup. Lack of hunger after last year’s win?

Whenever the team loses, questions of lack of hunger or motivation come up. Even last year Yusuf (Pathan) played well in only two matches. We looked extremely unmotivated in the first five overs in last year’s final, but we still won. But I wish we had finished in the last four. We have a good enough team to make it to the semis. We lost a couple of matches we shouldn’t have. The one against Hyderabad, against Delhi, against Bangalore. The team is fine. It needs to gel early into the season. The teams which manage to do that somehow come through well. You have to be on the winning side in the first seven-eight matches. It’s not the last part, it’s the initial start which matters. The Friday, Saturday, Sunday!

Bollywood’s changing so much and so fast. A Ranbir Kapoor film crosses Rs 100 crore within a week. Small films like Kahaani and Vicky Donor become the top films of the year. It’s no longer about waiting all year for the Khan films to release. Do you sit and think about all this? Do you react to the change around you?

I’ll explain something to you, which is very difficult to do in a small interview like this. You have to live life with me to understand that. At the stage of life that I am in, having lived life the way I have for the last 22 years…. Not as a star on the outside. Baahar se toh Mannat mein rehta hoon, badi gaadi mein ghoomta hoon… The things that I do in life every day are very different from the normal day-to-day life of other people. The mindset is very different, the emotions are very different, the understanding of real life is very different. That does not mean I live in an ivory tower. I live in a very different state as a person where I don’t know whether I am crying for real when I cry. These things that are happening around me become very menial. When you have seen the kind of ups and downs that I have seen almost daily for 22 years, you become… not numb… but desensitised. I am not trying to be superior but I really have no reaction to the fact that someone’s film has made a lot of money. When a hot iron is hit very often, a natural armour gets built around it.

In a very different vein, I don’t know the difference between dal and chawal, don’t know their prices. And I am not saying that I don’t understand the value of the middle class or their needs. I am middle class myself. But there are many things which just don’t exist for me. Like the sense of competition. Maybe it was there at an initial stage. Now numbers, awards, nothing matter. I am numb to all of that contrary to what people think about me.

You know there was this big producer, won’t take his name, whose film was about to release. He called and told me: ‘I was in a party and someone told me that you are thinking bad for my film.’ I met him and told him: ‘Sir, I don’t think bad for you and I don’t think good for you. Please don’t mind me saying it but the way I am leading my life for the last 20 years, I don’t think about you.’ That’s the genuine thing. I don’t think of these things.

I am in a strange solo space, very few things actually touch me. I miss being real and normal but it’s difficult not to be like me when you have spent the last couple of decades like the way I have. Kabhi kabhi mujhe lagta hai ki bura kyun nahin laga, kabhi kabhi mujhe lagta hai ki achha kyun nahin laga. Even when my films become a hit, I celebrate for my team. I have a big party and I dance with them. But I don’t feel it myself. The amount I emote in films, I am completely opposite to that in real life. It’s very sad actually. I don’t enjoy the normal pleasures of life like ‘Let’s go out for dinner’. I don’t enjoy anything. My friends sometimes tell me what a sad place it is to be in. But I have chosen this life. I made the choice. This is what I wanted to be.

It’s not a place for everyone. To be under scrutiny all the time, to be under the microscope, people judging all the time, passing comments… if I walk through a crowd, dus log gaali dete hain, der lakh log pyaar bhi karte hain. They hold me responsible for things which I have nothing to do with, including say a cricket match… you will become desensitised, no?

Then you wake up in the morning and put all those emotions in a commercial, over-the-top, happy-go-lucky film. And then you come back to your hotel room, if you are on an outdoor, close the door and sit. Just sit. You can’t understand it. You have to experience it. I had a dialogue in the film Chaahat: ‘Mujhe nahin lagta!’ Na achha lagta hai, naa bura lagta hai. I wish everyone well... I don’t want to wish my life upon these young stars. It’s a great place to be professionally and it’s a strange place to be personally. It’s a choice everyone has to make.