(SHAH
RUKH KHAN)
42, ACTOR AND PRODUCER, OWNER OF KOLKATA KNIGHT
RIDERS
 Someone
sent me a lovely line recently: ‘When you
decide to lead the orchestra you have to learn to
turn your back to the crowds.’ I totally believe
in that. If you can face criticism and yet continue
doing what you believe in, success will be yours
for the taking.
Most of us take ourselves so seriously that we forget
how to enjoy the small, silly things in life. I’d
wear a red Superman costume and do something silly
even at the age of 42 and it’s perfectly okay.
It’s easy to lay the blame on someone else’s
door for things gone wrong. But until you accept
responsibility for your failures, you are never
going to succeed. They say my new television show,
Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? is not doing very
well. The channel has paid big money to get Shah
Rukh Khan. Everything has been done to make the
television
show work. So if there are not enough eyeballs,
somewhere I feel responsible.
It’s essential to take risks and chances with
your career and life if you want to grow. I am not
attached to money despite what people say. I am
instinctive and I love taking risks. When Phir Bhi
Dil Hai Hindustani, the first movie from my production
company flopped, Juhi (Chawla), Aziz (Mirza) and
I, who were partners, cried for ten days straight.
We made other films, Chalte Chalte and Asoka, which
also flopped. Everyone mocked us, said stuff like
‘dreams shattered’, ‘finished’,
etc. I could have closed down the company but I
chose not to. Very few people in this world are
given a position of choice by Allah. I am in that
position, whether it is because of hard work, talent,
by chance, right man at the right place, whatever.
And I exercise that choice by taking risks and pushing
my own boundaries.
I am ready to fail. I know I am not invincible.
If I had to weigh the good times against the bad
ones, the latter would clearly outweigh the former.
I have had a million bad experiences; I have taken
a million wrong decisions. But the memories of all
the troubles I went through are now vague. It’s
my failures that keep me going, not my successes.
The secret of my success is my refusal to believe
that I am successful or have achieved it all. If
you give yourself just one standard of success,
you will achieve it, especially if you are hard-working.
But that’s when ennui will set in and you
will reach a dead end.
I grab every opportunity that comes my way. I don’t
let anything go. It’s not that I need the
work or the money. People think I do so many things
only for the money, but no, it’s just that
I can’t let an opportunity go.
Money is important, but only if it is earned honestly.
I hate taking money from others. It has to be my
own money. I have over 90 people working for me.
I have a production company. I am starting a television
unit. I have Knight Riders Sports and Games Pvt
Ltd, through which I want to promote sports in India.
I’ve built a cancer ward in my mother’s
name. Now I want to build a free hospital and I
want to do it all with my money. So I’ll dance
at a wedding or take on KBC or Panchvi Pass or do
a world tour.
Be true to your calling and know what your strengths
and weaknesses are. The lure of money or power should
not force you into doing something you are not cut
out for. I have often been asked if I will join
politics. Frankly, I am an apolitical creature.
I can’t be a good politician just as I can’t
be a good cricketer. I am a good actor, but how
do I have the hunar (calibre) to intelligently analyse
the country’s budget, for instance? Also,
I have been too long a superstar to be totally selfless,
which is a must for a good politician. You cannot
be flying in chartered flights if you are responsible
for your constituency or your country.
It’s important to admit that you don’t
know everything because that’s how you will
grow. I have learnt it from the kids I work with
on my television show, Panchvi Pass…The most
intelligent thing about me is my ability to admit
that I am not knowledgeable about all aspects of
life. I know what I am good at. Analysing a scene
comes naturally to me. Some people are good with
figures; I am good with lines. I can make you cry,
I can cry at will. I can dance, I can sing. But
I am hungry for knowledge, and that hunger helps
me evolve and grow.
They call me the face of the liberal Indian Muslim.
I believe I am the face of the liberal Indian. I
don’t believe in religion and caste. The faster
we stand together as one people the faster we will
grow as a nation.
The values I would like to pass on to my kids are
simple ones. Work honestly and be a winner. There
is no place for a loser in this world. And that
they should have the guts and the balls to say:
“I don’t know how to do this very well,
I need to learn.” I think I am the only father
who doesn’t always tell his kids about the
awards he wins. But I do tell them about my failures
or when I get booed. I tell him, ‘Your dad
is loved by this whole country. He is on the cover
of Time magazine. And yet when his team plays against
another team and loses, he is booed.’ So if
you don’t like to be booed – like I
was recently when my team lost against Mumbai Indians
at Wankhede Stadium – don’t lose.
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