Industrywallahs think he is the Badshah of Bollywood while his legion of fans spread across the globe call him King Khan. But does anyone know that the unchallenged numero uno of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, is still childlike at heart? Revealing this and much more was SRK himself during his recent visit to Kidzania. Excerpts from the conference.
Pandit Nehru's birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India. What do you have to say about this significance?
Chacha Nehru was undoubtedly a towering leader of our nation and when his birthday gets associated with something as special as kids, it becomes all the more great and significant. Even today that imagery of a small child giving him a rose remains freshly embedded in our memory.
What's special about spending Children's Day at Kidzania?
More than business, I feel like coming to Kidzania because it allows me to spend more time with kids in this fast paced life. This place gives a platform where kids and taught as well as entertained at the same time. We don't have so many such places in India. Hence we are now trying to take Kidzania to the next level. But the best way of spending Children's Day is by spending it with children themselves.
Have your all your kids been here too?
Aryan and Suhana have but Abram is still small. I wanted him to come but it's a long drive from my place. He will certainly come here one day.
How do you like spending time with your kids today?
I just hang out with them. When Suhana is there, we watch television that girls like. Right now I am watching Wizards of Waverly Place with her. With Aryan and his friends who all taller than me now, I play sports mostly football. With AbRam, well I just nod my head.
You have acted in movies with kids many times? Is it easy or difficult to shoot with children?
Trust me, it's very tough to shoot with kids. I shouldn't be saying this because I have made some great movies with some great kids. But it's difficult to shoot with kids and one needs to have a lot of patience. Sometimes there are delays that occur which is saddening. Thankfully now the system when it comes to shooting with kids has become good. When we had shot My Name Is Khan in America, we had cast three different kids to play my age. With them we shot in shifts. Their teachers also used to arrive on set to teach them. So a classroom used to be set up which I think is a very good system that is in place.
Every person has a child hidden inside him or her. How much of a child is still alive within you?
(Smiles) I keep the child inside me hidden or else the cops will come and take me away. I am trying to be good now. Infact, from this month onwards, I have decided to talk more nicely. My kids often tell me, 'Papa you have to behave yourself.' I know a lot of things that I say and do will be taken in fun but sometimes it is taken in the wrong sense as well. So I have to realise that my age is not such that I can be childlike. But I like to be childlike and infact I think I am very childlike.
Given your superstardom, do you find it difficult now to take your kids for an outing?
Well, I have been with my kids to movie halls. Nightclubs I cannot go with them because they may not like it. But still I have dropped them to night clubs a couple of times. I usually wear a hoodie and go. When they were young, I have taken them to Disney and Orlando and other places that I could afford. I am scared of rides and I have never been on any rides till now but I have made sure my kids enjoy them. And I will do it with Abram as well. So there has been no difficulty as such. Infact, now my kids themselves ask me not to come along because I usually have a lot of people around me and they get embarrassed.
Any special memory of your father that still inspires you as a person?
Yes there is one. Near Kamani auditorium in Delhi, there used to be a Bengali market where you used to get gol guppe. There used to be a golchakkar there. I remember one day my father had taken me out for a movie but we couldn't watch it because he didn't have enough money to buy tickets. My father then took me to this golchakkar where we sat and ate groundnuts and started counting the numbers of the vehicles there. It was game that he invented right then and there wherein he told me the one who counts the maximum numbers will win. It was very entertaining and he also let me win it as well. That's the most inspiring memory of my father. I have tried imbibing that principle of entertainment in my films too. Tomorrow if you were to leave me on an island or desert with my kids, I will very easily invent a game to entertain them. I think entertainment should be like that. It should be just made up instantly. My father couldn't afford to take me to the film that day because money was as less. So he just made a game for entertainment and that till date for me remains the greatest memory of my father.
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