Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, known for his charismatic screen presence and shedding his shirt for both action and romantic roles over his three-decade career, is opening up about his motivation, the occasional lack of it, and what sustains his passion for film.
Addressing what he describes as the “generational change” that has happened in Indian cinema, Khan said that the thrills that audiences get at the movies are now “not an adrenaline rush, but an emotional rush. It has to keep on happening.”
The iconic actor, who has starred in 65 films, recently received a career achievement award at the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and also delivered a masterclass at the festival. Khan’s breakout roles — the antagonist in “Darr” (1993) and the lead in “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (1996), which catapulted him to superstardom — were both filmed in Switzerland, so the award marked a “full circle” moment for him.
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In an exclusive interview with Variety at Locarno, Khan discusses his recent action films, his approach to selecting roles and his views on the changing landscape of Indian cinema.
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What does the Locarno Film Festival honor mean to you?
For me, it’s quite a journey. I started off becoming known as a romantic hero or a lover boy. So for me to come back to Switzerland and receive an award is nice. It’s like a full circle. I’d heard of the festival, it’s very popular and famous, but I’d never thought that I’d be here receiving an award. The idea is to be able to introduce not just my films, but Indian cinema from the north, south, east, west and say, “Here’s the highest filmmaking nation in the world.”
As you mentioned, you’re known as a romantic hero and you’ve done action films in the past, but none like “Pathaan” and “Jawan.” They were among the biggest Indian hits of 2023 and on a much larger scale than anything you have done before. What did you do to reinvent yourself as this massive action hero?
As much as I love it, I’m surprised by the term of being a romantic hero. I’ve never thought of myself as that, to be honest. The other day, I was sitting with [director] Aditya Chopra, who kind of started this process with “DDLJ” [“Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”]. And he said, “If we count, you’ve done about five or six romantic films, which are considered classic, sweeping romantic films — ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,’ maybe ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,’ ‘Dil To Pagal Hai,’ ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.'” I don’t think “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” is a romantic film. I think I agree with him, but one gets obviously classified as that.
I have a dream. I want to have a room with pictures where — and this is not a narcissistic thing — if I look at my work, every film should feel of a genre that I have grown up watching. I’m not limited to a genre as a viewer. I like to see action films. Strangely, my least favorite is romantic films. I like science-fiction films, dystopian world films, off-beat, human drama films. I love courtroom dramas. I love thrillers. I sometimes like a horror film. I just felt a couple of years when I wasn’t working, that I haven’t done an out-and-out action film. I like Tom Cruise films. “Mission Impossible” — you don’t really have to worry. You will come back satisfied more often than not.
[“Pathaan” director] Siddharth Anand had this title for the last 15-20 years, and I remember him saying that if I ever make a film called “Pathaan,” it has to be with you, sir. Otherwise I won’t make it. So it all came long. I think we signed it in 15 minutes. And “Jawan” was a genre of South Indian films that I haven’t done. So these were two things I think I haven’t touched upon, and I’m sure there are more and I’ll find out as I go along. For me, it’s not a reinvention, it’s the requirement of a role. I didn’t reinvent myself to play a vertically challenged person in “Zero,” I didn’t reinvent myself to play “Fan” as a little psychotic. It’s just adhering to and being honest to the genre of film that I’m in.
I know because the films did so well, people think I’ve reinvented after a sabbatical and come back. To be honest, it wasn’t so seriously thought out. Personally, if you ask me, I love action films. I love “Bad Boys.” I’ve done action before, but to participate in an absolutely in-your-face action film… I got the opportunity. COVID allowed me to build the body. You’re sitting at home working out. So, it all fell into place.
Coming to the period before “Pathaan,” “Jawan” and “Dunki,” some of your films could have done better at the box office and and there was a self-enforced hiatus of a few years.
I try to make it as varied as possible, given the parameters of commercial cinema. Yes, it should have its songs, dances, fights, emotions. But can we say something still new? So, all the films that I do, whether it’s “Jab Harry Met Sejal” or “Zero” or the ones which didn’t do well like “Fan” — I thought it was an interesting film. I love that film. Some of the ones I love the most are the ones which haven’t done well. And I have a reason for it. Cinema is a mass communication medium. It needs to communicate, very simply, to a lot of people. It should not intellectualize. It should not sermonize. I always keep saying it can’t moralize. It should just be simple. Some of these films which didn’t do well were so personal that they were not simple enough, they were so personal they got very shrunk.
The hiatus wasn’t because of the films. I’ve always maintained that the day I don’t feel like getting up in the morning and conquering the shoot, I don’t want to work. It wasn’t the failure of the films, to be honest. I was doing a film in January, and this was in December. Very unprofessional of me. I just woke up and I said, “I don’t want to go and shoot this film.” I called the producer and I said to him that I don’t want to work for a year. He said, “It’s not possible. You don’t sit without working for even a minute. So you don’t like the film, say no, don’t say you’re not working for a year.” And a year and a half later, he did call and he said, “I was really surprised you actually are not working.” So I just didn’t want to work. I just didn’t want to act. I didn’t feel like acting. Because for me, acting is genuinely very, very organic.
How did you keep yourself occupied during that time?
I learned how to cook. I learned Italian cooking. I think it’s great food. So I learned how to make the best pizza in the world. Hopefully, I’ll open a restaurant one day. I’ve got lots of facets now that I can indulge in. I learned how to clean. I started cleaning up the house, my room, starting with my handbag to my trolley bag to my laptop bag to different places in the house. I’m now the best cleaner in the house. I can vacuum, clean, I can mop. I can do everything. I did work out, because nothing else to do during COVID, because my hiatus went into COVID. Actually, the whole world went into hiatus when I decided not to work. So, for me, I didn’t lose many years as far as work is concerned, because nobody was working. And I watched films and spent a lot of time with the kids.
Your daughter Suhana was one of the leads in Netflix’s “The Archies” last year and your son Aryan is making his directorial debut with series “Stardom.” Do you advise your children on their career paths?
I don’t think I’m anyone to advise, because all our circumstances, our situations and things that happen to us as an actor — especially in the Indian film industry — are very unique … It won’t turn out [for them] how it turned out to be for me. So I think everybody’s experience will have to be unique.
I do find myself having less knowledge than my children about the way the world now perceives art or entertainment. I’m very good with the acting part. So, if they ever come to me and say, like my daughter does, “There’s a scene, can I just rehearse with you?” I’m not telling her how to say it, because I think her expression may be more relevant to how people like expressions now. I’m very intrigued by why people do it differently than I would, and that’s the reason I would never give them advice how to do it. My son is making his first series or storytelling directorial debut. He does come and ask me, “Does it work? Can it be shorter?” “No, I like it long.” I feel it’s important to say that. So, we have discussions, but I don’t know if I can put it as advisory. They both need to roll as they feel. And hopefully, if I can work with them, maybe [I’ll give them advice] during work. I learn and teach a lot. That’s what actors are supposed to do, give and take.
You’ve not done a Hollywood film so far. Under what conditions or circumstances would you consider doing one?
I think it’s the world’s greatest and biggest cinema in terms of reach and how people watch it. I don’t think I’m in a position to choose and put conditions, but yes, when an opportunity arises — I hope I can speak English well enough. And, I don’t want to sound uppity, but it should be a role worthy of the status the Indian audience has given me. It should not let down.
I come across as very flippant and happy-go-lucky, but I fully respect and realize the amount of adulation I have, how people adore me. People look up to what I do. People have given me too much respect. People have given me and my family everything that I have, people of India and all around the world, Indians and people from the subcontinent. And there’s a respect that I need to keep when I play a role in any film, whether it’s a Hindi film or a South Indian film or a Marathi film or a French film or a Hollywood film. So I don’t think anybody’s offered me that kind of role, yet. I don’t have an agent there. I’ve not also gone looking for it, to be honest.
My dream is to get that one Indian film to be seen with the kind of audience that a big Hollywood film is seen, whether I’m part of it as an actor, as a light man, as a producer, as a writer, as a presenter. I just want an Indian story to be accepted worldwide, and hopefully I can be a small part of it.
What are you working on next?
It’s a film called “King,” which is directed by Sujoy Ghosh [“Kahaani”] and creatively produced by Siddharth Anand, who made “Pathaan.” It is an action drama, it’s a Hindi film. It’ll be interesting. I’ve been wanting to do a film like that for some time, and I really wanted to do a film like this for seven, eight years. We just felt Sujoy would be the right choice, because we wanted it to be very emotionally correct. We are all coming together to make a cool, massy, action, emotional film.
Looking back at your 35-plus years in the industry, what do you think have been the biggest changes, especially considering the impact of the pandemic?
What has not changed is most of us adhering to and seeing what is working. What has remained constant is that the audience is very discerning, very clear, post-pandemic, pre-pandemic. We like to just enjoy ourselves, give us something that we enjoy. So when I see a larger than life film and I enjoy it, I’m enjoying it actually for its content. I think it’s a misnomer to say “content-based film.” It is the content I’ve enjoyed. Is “Jawan” a content-based film, I don’t know. I call it a good watch, but it has content. Content-based film is not talking about only a social issue or a problem in an area and taking a stand. Films, I’ve always said, are not meant for messages or statements. They should be testaments to life itself and the good and the bad of life itself.
What has really changed over 30 years is the fact that you need to tell stories which appeal to a lot of people in the same room for different reasons. I think it’s very important to mix the genres because human beings don’t isolate emotions. Films need to be as complicated as human emotions, while as simple to understand as human emotions. For example, one of my favorite films from India is “Sholay.” It has everything: action, buddies, cops, romance, amazing comedy and lots of people love the bad guy.
What has changed is I think the world is now turning to masala films. I think that’s how I’d like to put it. Everybody in the world is wanting to make Bollywood films.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
