Post by Rina Chandran on Mar 6, 2004 14:05:29 GMT
20 Minutes with Shah Rukh Khan
In New York promoting his upcoming film, Asoka, the Bollywood superstar talks to Rina Chandan
He admits that he likes leather jackets, and that becoming a Buddhist is a "tall, tall order" he cannot fill. That he agreed to do a film based on nothing more than a briefing that he couldn't understand, while dancing on top of a train, and that the film changed his life and his personality.
Even the circumstances in which Shah Rukh Khan promoted his new film, Asoka, were unusual. A day after a press conference in Manhattan to launch the movie's soundtrack with director Santosh Sivan (Terrorist, Malli, Halo), the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center left him grounded in a midtown hotel, granting interviews to the media as the horrific events of the day unfolded.
Shah Rukh in New York (Click for full view):
The film, which will be released on October 26, is the story of Emperor Asoka, a grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, who ascended the throne of Magadha in the 3rd century B.C. Asoka's turning point was the Kalinga war, which left thousands dead. He was so overcome by the destruction that he decided to renounce his worldly life, and become a Buddhist.
"I wanted to make a film that doesn't keep us in our comfort zone, a film that's different," Khan said in an interview. The film is produced by Arclightz Films, a division of Dreamz Unlimited, the production company owned by Shah Rukh and actress Juhi Chawla. This is their second venture; the first was Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. "Our inherent idea is to make films that everyone will see. They should not fall into a trap where only XYZ audience will see them," he said.
Asoka was shown at the Venice International Film Festival, and was also invited to the festivals in Toronto and Japan. The film was received very well in Venice, Khan said, but it was not entered in the competition because they did not want the film to be "branded as an art house film." It's a typical commercial Hindi film, he said.
However, making a period film is not a typical experience, and playing Asoka was a challenge too, Khan said. Sivan decided early on that they would not use big sets, elaborate props or costumes. "We created the ambience without the look of the period stuff you usually see. So the film has a modern look and style because we wanted it to appeal to the youth," he said.
The success of two recent period films, Gadar and Lagaan, is encouraging because it shows that audiences may be accepting, Khan said. "After Lagaan, we even thought about adding a football scene in the climax, but couldn't," he said, tongue firmly in cheek.
Playing the part of Asoka was difficult, said Khan, because very little is known about how he looked or what he did before he began preaching Buddhism. "Also, my style is more modern and stylized," he said. Because there was little to go by besides myths and legends, Khan said he tried to imagine what kind of a man would have made the transformation from emperor to Buddhist disciple.
Dressed in a white polo shirt and gray slacks, Khan's attention to detail was apparent as he adjusted the table lamp in the room, unscrewing the lampshade and then screwing it back on, until he got the lighting just right. "Asoka is not a film about Shah Rukh Khan 'in and as Asoka,' nor is it about the greatest emperor or the best-known Buddhist, but a film about a normal human being who has normal things happen to him, and does extraordinary things," he said.
While Khan believes in the ideology of Buddhism, he said he is too "selfish, too self-centered," and too fond of the pleasures of life to give them up. But the experience of making the movie has changed him. "I have a strange sense of peace and calm, there's no sense of hurry. And I've realized that running after materialistic things is not so important," he said. "Maybe I'm getting old . . . or maybe I'm getting lazy."
Whatever quality one might associate with this star of close to 50 films, laziness is not one of them. "I am a hard working actor, and I believe in making an honest effort - whether as an actor or as a producer," he said. "The bottom line is, I should be true to form, true to the director - and I should be an entertainer."
As a producer, Khan said he knows how high the stakes are for any film; when the film is a little different, the stakes are even higher. "So you can't just change the traditional Hindi film format and scare everyone," he said.
The flip side is that unless he recovers the money he invests, he cannot attempt anything different, he said. "If I had a market where people who don't even understand the language come to see the film, I would be happy. But it is difficult to market an Indian film in the U.K. or America."
Inherently, Indian cinema is different from say, American cinema, because we are a more emotional people, Khan said. "At funerals in the West, you see people dressed in black; in India, we beat our chests and cry. Our style of life is more colorful, warmer, a little raw."
Also, just as every country has a way of telling a story, the Indian way is through song and dance, Khan said. "We still use the musical form, but they need to be taken at face value." No one sings and dances in real life, but no one saves the earth from a meteor either, Khan pointed out. "If I can have fantasy fed to me, and I accept it, why can't other people accept this? I think breaking into song and dance is more realistic than getting into a time capsule and traveling light years, or seeing the President single-handedly fight terrorists."
A film such as Bandit Queen or Elizabeth (director Shekhar Kapur), which have done well internationally, is a matter of pride, Khan said, "because someone from India is trying something different, getting our films accepted internationally, and having people say, 'hey, they make interesting films'."
International recognition is rewarding, Khan said, because it is an acknowledgement that our films are being noticed. "We can sit at home and complain that we are not making good films, that our films are not being accepted the world over," he said. But Bollywood makes the most number of films in the world, and is really the only film industry to challenge Hollywood's supremacy, so "there must be something unique about us," he said.
As a producer, he is able to ensure that there are no complaints at least on the technical aspects of a film, Khan said. "I can make sure we use the best cameras, the best sound, the best effects. Then, the film has to work."
Khan's future projects will depend on whether Asoka works. "If it is not accepted, and a third film is also not accepted, then we have to accept that our kind of cinema is not working," he said. Dreamz had expected better returns from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, he said, but they were unable to recover their investment.
But even when the film works, piracy can make a big dent in the returns to filmmakers. This is particularly prevalent in overseas markets, where South Asian communities are fragmented and accessibility to movie theaters may be limited. Khan said he supported anti-piracy efforts undertaken by distributors here. "When people come to theaters, then I can recover my money and make more films that may change the way people view Indian films. But if people steal that right, and keep people from coming to the theater, it won't work."
Even without the threat of piracy, the film industry is challenging. The audience can be unforgiving, and investors are demanding. "We can keep thinking we made a wonderful film, but we ultimately make films for the audience. If the audience doesn't like it, we can't shove it down their throats," he said.
This is the reason why Khan does not have expectations going into a film, either as an actor or as a producer. "I only have expectations for the work that I put in," he said. "A lot of work has gone into making Asoka, and I hope audiences will see it and accept the effort." He also hopes that audiences will recognize it as an effort to make a different film, one that is in the Indian tradition, but one that anyone can take even an American friend to, and not be embarrassed.
"This is a small effort from people hoping to make a difference," Khan said. "Also, as an actor, I've been given respect and love much beyond what I deserve, so this is one way of saying 'thank you'."
Press Conference and Interview Photos of Shah Rukh Khan by Jay Mandal/On Assignment
Rina Chandran, based in New Jersey.
In New York promoting his upcoming film, Asoka, the Bollywood superstar talks to Rina Chandan
He admits that he likes leather jackets, and that becoming a Buddhist is a "tall, tall order" he cannot fill. That he agreed to do a film based on nothing more than a briefing that he couldn't understand, while dancing on top of a train, and that the film changed his life and his personality.
Even the circumstances in which Shah Rukh Khan promoted his new film, Asoka, were unusual. A day after a press conference in Manhattan to launch the movie's soundtrack with director Santosh Sivan (Terrorist, Malli, Halo), the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center left him grounded in a midtown hotel, granting interviews to the media as the horrific events of the day unfolded.
Shah Rukh in New York (Click for full view):
The film, which will be released on October 26, is the story of Emperor Asoka, a grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, who ascended the throne of Magadha in the 3rd century B.C. Asoka's turning point was the Kalinga war, which left thousands dead. He was so overcome by the destruction that he decided to renounce his worldly life, and become a Buddhist.
"I wanted to make a film that doesn't keep us in our comfort zone, a film that's different," Khan said in an interview. The film is produced by Arclightz Films, a division of Dreamz Unlimited, the production company owned by Shah Rukh and actress Juhi Chawla. This is their second venture; the first was Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. "Our inherent idea is to make films that everyone will see. They should not fall into a trap where only XYZ audience will see them," he said.
Asoka was shown at the Venice International Film Festival, and was also invited to the festivals in Toronto and Japan. The film was received very well in Venice, Khan said, but it was not entered in the competition because they did not want the film to be "branded as an art house film." It's a typical commercial Hindi film, he said.
However, making a period film is not a typical experience, and playing Asoka was a challenge too, Khan said. Sivan decided early on that they would not use big sets, elaborate props or costumes. "We created the ambience without the look of the period stuff you usually see. So the film has a modern look and style because we wanted it to appeal to the youth," he said.
The success of two recent period films, Gadar and Lagaan, is encouraging because it shows that audiences may be accepting, Khan said. "After Lagaan, we even thought about adding a football scene in the climax, but couldn't," he said, tongue firmly in cheek.
Playing the part of Asoka was difficult, said Khan, because very little is known about how he looked or what he did before he began preaching Buddhism. "Also, my style is more modern and stylized," he said. Because there was little to go by besides myths and legends, Khan said he tried to imagine what kind of a man would have made the transformation from emperor to Buddhist disciple.
Dressed in a white polo shirt and gray slacks, Khan's attention to detail was apparent as he adjusted the table lamp in the room, unscrewing the lampshade and then screwing it back on, until he got the lighting just right. "Asoka is not a film about Shah Rukh Khan 'in and as Asoka,' nor is it about the greatest emperor or the best-known Buddhist, but a film about a normal human being who has normal things happen to him, and does extraordinary things," he said.
While Khan believes in the ideology of Buddhism, he said he is too "selfish, too self-centered," and too fond of the pleasures of life to give them up. But the experience of making the movie has changed him. "I have a strange sense of peace and calm, there's no sense of hurry. And I've realized that running after materialistic things is not so important," he said. "Maybe I'm getting old . . . or maybe I'm getting lazy."
Whatever quality one might associate with this star of close to 50 films, laziness is not one of them. "I am a hard working actor, and I believe in making an honest effort - whether as an actor or as a producer," he said. "The bottom line is, I should be true to form, true to the director - and I should be an entertainer."
As a producer, Khan said he knows how high the stakes are for any film; when the film is a little different, the stakes are even higher. "So you can't just change the traditional Hindi film format and scare everyone," he said.
The flip side is that unless he recovers the money he invests, he cannot attempt anything different, he said. "If I had a market where people who don't even understand the language come to see the film, I would be happy. But it is difficult to market an Indian film in the U.K. or America."
Inherently, Indian cinema is different from say, American cinema, because we are a more emotional people, Khan said. "At funerals in the West, you see people dressed in black; in India, we beat our chests and cry. Our style of life is more colorful, warmer, a little raw."
Also, just as every country has a way of telling a story, the Indian way is through song and dance, Khan said. "We still use the musical form, but they need to be taken at face value." No one sings and dances in real life, but no one saves the earth from a meteor either, Khan pointed out. "If I can have fantasy fed to me, and I accept it, why can't other people accept this? I think breaking into song and dance is more realistic than getting into a time capsule and traveling light years, or seeing the President single-handedly fight terrorists."
A film such as Bandit Queen or Elizabeth (director Shekhar Kapur), which have done well internationally, is a matter of pride, Khan said, "because someone from India is trying something different, getting our films accepted internationally, and having people say, 'hey, they make interesting films'."
International recognition is rewarding, Khan said, because it is an acknowledgement that our films are being noticed. "We can sit at home and complain that we are not making good films, that our films are not being accepted the world over," he said. But Bollywood makes the most number of films in the world, and is really the only film industry to challenge Hollywood's supremacy, so "there must be something unique about us," he said.
As a producer, he is able to ensure that there are no complaints at least on the technical aspects of a film, Khan said. "I can make sure we use the best cameras, the best sound, the best effects. Then, the film has to work."
Khan's future projects will depend on whether Asoka works. "If it is not accepted, and a third film is also not accepted, then we have to accept that our kind of cinema is not working," he said. Dreamz had expected better returns from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, he said, but they were unable to recover their investment.
But even when the film works, piracy can make a big dent in the returns to filmmakers. This is particularly prevalent in overseas markets, where South Asian communities are fragmented and accessibility to movie theaters may be limited. Khan said he supported anti-piracy efforts undertaken by distributors here. "When people come to theaters, then I can recover my money and make more films that may change the way people view Indian films. But if people steal that right, and keep people from coming to the theater, it won't work."
Even without the threat of piracy, the film industry is challenging. The audience can be unforgiving, and investors are demanding. "We can keep thinking we made a wonderful film, but we ultimately make films for the audience. If the audience doesn't like it, we can't shove it down their throats," he said.
This is the reason why Khan does not have expectations going into a film, either as an actor or as a producer. "I only have expectations for the work that I put in," he said. "A lot of work has gone into making Asoka, and I hope audiences will see it and accept the effort." He also hopes that audiences will recognize it as an effort to make a different film, one that is in the Indian tradition, but one that anyone can take even an American friend to, and not be embarrassed.
"This is a small effort from people hoping to make a difference," Khan said. "Also, as an actor, I've been given respect and love much beyond what I deserve, so this is one way of saying 'thank you'."
Press Conference and Interview Photos of Shah Rukh Khan by Jay Mandal/On Assignment
Rina Chandran, based in New Jersey.