WHEN SHAH RUKH MET BRAD PITT
Brad Pitt, who made a surprise visit to India to promote his Netflix film War Machine had an interesting session with Shah Rukh where they shared some inside jokes and talked about the film industry
MUMBAI: Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan says Hollywood has the potential to take over Bollywood if the industry people don’t work on skills like screenplay writing, marketing, and use of technology. Shah Rukh also added that there is a “fear of Hollywood taking over Bollywood” in India. “If we don’t hone up few areas especially script writing, screenplay, marketing, professionalism and technology, we will be taken over by Hollywood,” Shah Rukh said here.
The Indian actor, who has been in the industry for over 25 years, added, “The language is becoming less and less of a barrier...there are more digital platforms and easy accessibility to content from all around the world. Hollywood has done, and we need to learn from them and adapt. There is big fear (of Hollywood taking over Bollywood).”
He talked about the dynamics of Bollywood as compared to Hollywood during a session with American actor Brad Pitt, who made a surprise visit to India to promote his Netflix film War Machine – a satirical comedy with Pitt essaying role of US General Glen Mcmahon, who is tough but over-confident with an only aim to lead his army towards victory in Afghanistan, and win the war. Pitt’s co-production will stream on the Us-based ondemand streaming website from Friday. It all started when Pitt asked Shah Rukh to get on the stage before him, saying “Bro, you first” to shaking hands and then sharing inside industry jokes.
Brad Pitt says he has great respect for Indian film industry because it has its own unique lan- guage, but added that he would never be able to crack the code of Bollywood. Most of the people in the west associate Bollywood with dancing and singing, and Pitt also carry the same image. He says he cannot sing or dance and that is the main reason he will never be able to make it big in Bollywood.
“I have great respect for Indian cinema because it has its own film language, its own stars and has created place of its own... That is what we enjoy over there,” Pitt during a conversation with Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan here. Pitt was curious about Indian showbiz as he asked many queries about how it functions, how long the shoots are and other nitty gritties of the Bollywood world.
As SRK said that an action and dance film takes upto 120 days to shoot and a simple film 70 days, Pitt exclaimed, “It’s the same there. But we don’t have dance. I will never make it in Bollywood. I can’t dance.” Then SRK said, “Oh, we’ll make you dance. We make everyone dance”, and went on to explain his signature move. The
Fight Club actor also added he can’t sing as well. Pitt was in India last in 2006 with his then girlfriend and actor-filmmaker Angelina Jolie, who later on went on to become his wife, daughter Zahara and son
Maddox. They were in the country for few month for the filming of A Mighty Heart. The actor said he had a fantastic time shooting the film in the country. The actor feels the Netflix has opened doors for filmmakers to tell their vision with no pressure of theatrical release, and will boost democratisation of filmmaking. Talking about his journey in the industry, Shah Rukh said it is very important to stay grounded to reality to stay relevant. “Keep it basic. You keep on doing things which you started off with the urge to stay relevant, being normal, to reinvent yourself. The simple things which made you want to be an actor.”