SRK on My Name is Khan

Excerpts from SRK interview

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090307/jsp/entertainment/story_10636722.jsp

How did the My Name is Khan shoot go in the US?

We shot the second half. The first half is left. It’s come out well... main khud ke baare mein badhaa chadhaake nahin bolna chahta. I am playing an autistic person, so it’s very different for me. It’s not a very serious film. It’s a Forrest Gump kind of a film. You feel bad for this guy but there’s a lot of positivity in the film. Like a person who is not well can look at life so positively. Why can’t everyone do the same? It’s not about a disabled man’s fight against disability. It’s a disabled man’s fight against the disability that exists in the world — terrorism, hatred, fighting. I only do films with a subtext... I know normally my films don’t look and feel what I think about them. Because I am very clear that films should entertain. My Name is Khan is also about Islam and the way the world looks at Islam but we are not taking any sides. We are only trying to say that there are only good people and bad people. There are no good Hindus, bad Hindus, good Christians, bad Christians. Either you are a good person or a bad person. Religion is not the criterion, humanity is. The tagline we have put in the film is: “The first superhero with only one superpower — humanity”.

Is there a lot of creative satisfaction in your work these days?

Yes, the last few films were very satisfying. I also really liked Billu. It’s a great thought — friends that you don’t forget. I loved Irrfan in it. I liked Chak De! India. I also really enjoyed Don. And now playing an autistic person in My Name is Khan is so supremely satisfying that I don’t want to work on any other movie for the rest of the year. Arre yeh bahut hai! I am so happy doing it. I did a lot of studies, a lot of research.

So how did you research for My Name is Khan?

I had done a play about autism with Barry John where I worked with an autistic kid. So when my writer and director in My Name is Khan sat with me, I gave them 25 more pages of research. I gave them more references... four different physical manifestations of autism. The eyes are very difficult to do. When you see me in the film, you will be shocked. To me it’s very difficult. With 100 people around you, to get those unfocussed, dead eyes is very difficult. Then I am saying dialogues with those eyes without expressing. I had to practise those eyes in my bathroom for 10 days before I got it right. Now I am teaching my children... pushing the eyeballs up, they stay there, then I go cock-eyed and then they go blank. Very difficult, very fulfilling.