Shah Rukh returns as the romantic hero in Jab Harry Met Sejal (courtesy redchilliesent)
Highlights
- 'I am so pathetic that I am comic,' said Shah Rukh
- 'I am extremely one-sided,' he added
- 'I'm completely shut off about my emotions,' he also said
New Delhi:
This might be a somewhat alarming confession from the man who starred in the definitive Bollywood romance but
actor Shah Rukh Khan has dismissed his off screen romantic abilities as 'awful' and 'pathetic.' So 'pathetic' as to be actually 'comic' - hey, he said it, not us. The 51-year-old star, still adored for his turn as the loverboy Raj in
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, told news agency PTI, "I am pathetic with relationships. I am so pathetic that I am comic." This, from the man who has turned his signature hug-the-world pose into a grand romantic gesture.
"If somebody said what did you say to him or her when he or she said this, my answer would shock you. They are like 'but how could you?' and I say, 'I don't know how else to relate to this.' I am very bad with relationships, I am awful," Shah Rukh Khan told PTI.
He elaborated: "
I am extremely one-sided, perhaps even selfish. Actually, I am very detached. I am demotional - emotional and detached, I don't know how it works. I won't be able to say anything that I've done in my films to a girl, or even in relationships... I am extremely closeted, introverted, shy, reclusive and completely shut off about my emotions."
You'd never know it to see him on screen playing characters as diverse as Rahul, who dreams of love, dance and Madhuri Dixit in
Dil Toh Pagal Hai, to Dr Jahangir Khan, who counsel Alia Bhatt through
romantic distress in Dear Zindagi. And here's why Shah Rukh Khan says it's easy to pretend to be something he's not on screen: "I don't have to believe in it, I have to make you believe in it and that's a challenge always... An actor always goes for something that he is not. It's a vent. I want to be a Batman, a Spider-Man, a fire fighter, an evil conniving don and I want to be the greatest lover in the world. And I am not any of these. That's why it turns me on," he told PTI.
For aspiring Romeos, Shah Rukh Khan has some cautionary advice - don't try this at home. "I am not telling you to run after a train and climb it. In real life, I would stop the train, or say let's meet at the next station. I would never do it in real life, putting my hand out, beating her would-be-husband. In
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the girl is getting married to a guy downstairs, I walk upto her and say 'I love you'. Now that's extremely weird," SRK told PTI.
After an interlude of playing against type in films like
Fan and
Raees, Shah Rukh Khan returns as the romantic hero in his new film
Jab Harry Met Sejal, co-starring Anushka Sharma and directed by Imtiaz Ali. As the Punjabi Harry, SRK's look includes a tattoo on his chest - and, no surprise, that's not real either. "I am freaking scared of tattoo needles. I am an extremely normal guy," Shah Rukh Khan told PTI. Not sure how many 'normal guys' rise to the dizzying heights Shah Rukh Khan has - in fact, we can't think of a life less ordinary.
Jab Harry Met Sejal is expected in theatres on August 4.
(With inputs from PTI)