It was a rare day off for the superstar. A shoot with co-star Kajol had been cancelled at the last minute.
The phone call fixing the much sought-after appointment came out of the blue. Make it short, was the request. Can we? Is it possible to keep a conversation with Shah Rukh Khan quick and snappy? On the flipside, what is there left to ask SRK that he hasn’t been asked before?
The Delhi boy came to Mumbai and found a home and life in the Maximum City 25 years ago. He became a superstar, the Badshah of Bollywood.
With The Hindu launching its Mumbai edition, it seemed only natural to talk to him about all things Mumbai.
The interview was at his sprawling third-floor office-cum-library in Mannat. The one author that leapt out at us from the shelves was Noam Chomsky. “Yes, I have read Chomsky,” he said to set the ball rolling. Then he went on to speak with characteristic candour about growing up in Delhi, affinity with Mumbai, the hatred for travelling and the love for work and traffic jams. There were flashes of the characteristic ready wit, when he spoke about how being a workaholic is embedded in his DNA and then quickly apologised, tongue firmly in cheek: “I should not be mentioning DNA to The Hindu .”
A reference to the ocean stretching in front of his home brought out an unfussy depth of observation: “The sea reminds you of your own smallness.” The admission that he has a yearning for learning led to a critical look at newspapers of the day and a futuristic take on media. “That romanticised kid on the bicycle throwing the paper in your balcony. That will go,” he told us. But journalism is here to stay.
The cup of tea brought for us remained untouched in the 54.08-minute-long conversation. It shall have to wait another day in Mannat, now that The Hindu has also found a home in Mumbai.
Read the full interview here:
The Hindu
| >I love the Mumbai traffic...It’s the only time I get to be by myself |
