With promotions for Ra.One kicking into high-gear and its first promo garnering intense curiosity, superstar Shah Rukh Khan is in high demand. In fact, five months before his home production’s release King Khan has set off on a multi-city campaign, as he feels a technologically advanced superhero film such as Ra.One merits similar promotional techniques as those that are typically only seen in the West.
And as everyone knows Ra.One is a project very close to Shah Rukh’s heart. Whether it was Spiderman, Batman or Superman, he has always loved superheroes and getting the chance to play such a role himself is exciting. And he certainly wants to do it right, as the film itself has been six years in the making.
With Bollywood being the first topic on everyone’s lips, can cricket be far behind? Shah Rukh Khan has had his share of cricket controversies with his IPL team the Kolkata Knight Riders. Karim Morani faces charges for filching money – an action SRK has openly derided in the past – yet Shah Rukh does not feel his friendship with Morani should allow the media to pin him as a culprit in the same crime. He feels his proximity to Morani does not automatically implicate him, but that the media will make such a connection whether it is true or not. Shah Rukh is adamant that news coverage has strayed from presenting the facts and reporters are now too often merely expressing their own opinions.
Where the media is concerned, Shah Rukh’s various personal rivalries cannot be far behind and this is another topic which SRK feels is tired. Whether it is questions about his relationship with Saurav Ganguly, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar or anyone else, he has been asked it all time and again. Though he admits that he has learned to deal with it over the years, he does worry about comments his children hear from classmates at school and its effect on them. As usual, Shah Rukh is a family man – “keep the families out of it, yaar.”
With so many controversies popping up week after week, year after year, how does the Baadshah of Bollywood cope with it all? “I’m strangely detached, increasingly so, and it’s good…I think you need to be detached to be such a big public figure.” He may need to separate himself from the ever-tumultuous relationships in tinsel town, but we hope he never loses his passion for cinema!
