Why should I follow someone else: Shah Rukh

ANow I have everything. One way to look at it is, ‘Oh I’ve so much to lose’. The other way is, ‘I’ve gained so much, even if I try to lose it, it won’t go away. SHAH RUKH KHAN, ACTOR

ctor Shah Rukh Khan says his fame and stardom will be of no use if he finds himself getting affected by the success of his contemporaries. The 51-yearold actor shrugs when asked how difficult it is to remain unfazed by others’ work after being in the industry for over 25 years. “What is the point of becoming such a huge star, if you’re still going to follow someone else? Or be bothered by someone else, or think about someone else or compare yourself to someone else?” he asks.

Shah Rukh says “not out of pompousness or ego” — that he has everything going for him, which is why he doesn’t feel the need to look further than his mirror. “I’m sure I’m being presumptuous, but there are a lot of people out there who say ‘wish we become Shah Rukh Khan’. I am Shah Rukh Khan, so why should I want to be someone else?”

SRK stressed in an interview that when he joined the industry, he was a “nobody”. “With no money, no house, no future, parents dead, I did what I felt like doing. I had nothing to lose. Now I have everything. One way to look at it is, ‘Oh I’ve so much to lose’. The other way is, ‘I’ve gained so much, even if I try to lose it, it won’t go away.’ If we were so brave when we had nothing, why should we not be equally brave in our beliefs and thoughts in what we want to do, when we have everything going for us?” he says.

PHOTO: RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT