Biography - Part III
Both Fauji and Dil Dariya were made in Delhi. They got a very high rating and I was being recognized as a well-known TV star. Around the same time there were some other very nice serials like Nukkad, Tamas, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and Buniyaad being made. All these were made in Bombay and obviously had bigger production values than the ones made in Delhi. I had been offered a few films from Bombay, but my mind was not set at that time. I just wanted to act and I was very happy with my theatre and serials. At this time I got an offer to work with a Bombay based serial production house. The production was called Iskra Rogopag and had its helm Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah and Aziz Mirza. They were big names on television and also in films. Kundan Shah had already made one of my favourite films, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. I was offered a two-episode part in their serial, to be directed by Vikas, another very famous director, and was quite delighted. I was on the next flight to Bombay, hoping to learn in the great city of Bombay. The serial was also coincidentally called Ummeed.
My first day’s experience was quite interesting. Before this, all the work I had done was with a group of youngsters in Delhi. There used to be a camera and a recorder and it was shot in available light outdoors. Suddenly, I was exposed to huge lights with strange names like HMI and Baby. It was quite a shock to hear a lightman yell out "Baby ki mundi kaat ke laa", which meant bring the light, which was called the Baby, without its stand.
There was online editing and playback songs, all new to me. Everything was very professional and large. And yes, there were retakes. Normally in Delhi one retook a shot only when one messed up the lines, but here, just to get the performance right, Vikas would have fifteen retakes. I remember the first day after pack up I had a long chat with myself. It seemed to me that I was the worst actor on earth because I had to do one shot so many times. It seemed like a great let down from my starry Fauji days. I felt I was not cut out to be an actor. Vikas sat with me and convinced me that this whole exercise is not only because of me but he also needed it sometimes to get his shot and conception right. He was really sweet about the whole thing.
I write about this because sometimes actors do begin to feel that they know everything, and suddenly you realize that acting is something that keeps on growing as much as you want it to. If I had stopped believing in myself then, I would have never grown. You have to believe that every time you express yourself, something new is to be learnt... the process never stops till you stop acting.
Actually most of the early TV I did was by default. Lekh Tandon had originally cast an actor by the name of Raja Bundela to play the part which I finally did in Dil Dariya. The serials of Iskra Rogopak had an in-house hero in Pawan Malhotra. Normally he would be cast for the roles in Ummeed and later on Circus, but he was very busy with Saeed Mirza's film Bagh Bahadur, so the roles came to me. Somewhere down the line, like I said, what you are meant to be happens to you somehow or the other. Most of the film offers I got were because people were beginning to see me on the TV playing roles which could fit in the mould of a Hindi film hero. Actually the serial that made me popular as a hero was Circus.
While working on Ummeed I got very close to Kundan's and Aziz's family. I started staying with them in their house. His wife and children became like a family to me. They were really nice to me and I started to feel like I have someone of my own in the big bad Bombay. Aziz is like a father to me. And while working on Ummeed he asked me if I would like to work on a 19-part serial based on the life in a Circus. By now I had been exposed to the high standards of work that Iskra Rogopak followed. I am not saying that Delhi serials were not good but it was a different ball game in Bombay. Everything was bigger and better... it was more like making films. I said yes to the offer and was soon travelling all over India with Apollo Circus to shoot the serial.
I believe…
Some felt my looks were not adequate to make it as a romantic hero. One producer of mine still insists that my “hair is like a bear’s”. I never felt bad about what they said. Because I believed. I believed that I would finally look my part in my films. I knew that I am no Greek God in the looks department, but I thought I would project an inner beauty on the screen which people would be able to see and understand. Even now I am not a vain person, because I firmly believe that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. My mother thought I was very good looking. I wish that producer could meet up with her and she’d show him who looked like a bear just before she hung him on the clothes line to dry.
I believe that when you are in love, your partner is the most beautiful person in the world. I believe I can have a love story with my audience. I can love them and love them a lot. Even then, I was sure that they would realize this love and love me back. And once they were in love they would find me nice, whether I was Adonis or not.
I believed that when my audience would come to see me I was not going to present to them a well-sculpted, well-groomed piece of wax. I would not and I could not. Instead I would hold up a mirror to them and show them how they would look doing what I was doing. I wasn't here to show off my talents and whatever I had in the looks department and ask for admiration and appreciation. I was here to ask for love. I was here to woo them not impress them. I was here to make them realize that I am just one of them, like them, except that my job puts me in different situations and stories. And if I was able to hold up this mirror to everyone I was sure my audience would appreciate me because they would reciprocate their love to one of their own, hair not withstanding
I LOVE ADVERTISING.
If I were given a choice between watching a film or
watching a collection of good ads, I would prefer to watch
ads. I remember when I was in Delhi I used to go to an ad
agency called Anthem, where my friend used to work as a
copywriter. I would enjoy sitting in for the brainstorming
sessions which involved watching the world’s best ads. I
would devotedly read Ogilvy & Mather. During my free
time in college, I did production for a lot of ads. Like the
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines campaign which introduced their
Jumbo Carrier with the image of an elephant carrying cargo
on his back. As a matter of fact, in college I took up Mass
Communication just to make ad films. I did not want to make
feature films. I think 30-second films are an art form, and
an art form which is very difficult to master. Just like
brevity is the soul of writing, I believe advertising is the
soul of filmmaking. Even today, I really get excited when I
see a well-made ad. Unfortunately, now that I have become a
star, there’s only so much that can be done with me as a
model. You have to use the ‘Shah Rukh Khan’ element.
Most people don’t know this, but I have done a television
ad for Liberty shoes while I was shooting Fauji. I looked
really ugly in it. All I did was to wear my Puma t-shirt and
football shorts and jump. They are the first sports shoes
made in India and I was their first model. The second ad I
did a Pan Parag kind of product, but it never really took
off in the market.
Then there were a lot of public service ads which I had done
in Delhi during Fauji and Dil Darya. For one of these ads, I
did my first stunt, and that too without an action
choreographer. I collided into a car with my two-wheeler,
and somersault onto the bonnet and went over the roof. The
first ad I did after I came to Bombay, the Tata Tea ad,
helped me to buy a house. I did three films in three days
with Prahlad Kakkar. They were produced by Pravin Nischol
(who later produced English Babu Desi Mem).
They wanted me for the Pepsi ad at the time, but they did a
survey and decided to take Aamir, who was already a star.
Mukul had suggested my name because he felt that I would be
the Next Big Thing. But after the survey, they didn’t take
me.
A BRAND NAMED SHAH RUKH KHAN
As a star I believe I opened the gates for other actors
to do ads. I brought respectability to stars doing ads by
endorsing so many products: Pepsi, Mayur Suitings, Hyundai
Santro, Snoodles, Cinthol soap, Bagpiper club soda, Clinic
All Clear. And then of course I’m an Omega brand
ambassador. I think I can be in the Guinness Book of World
Records as the hero who has sold the maximum number of
products: cars, soap, shampoo, noodles, watches, clothes - I
have done it all.
People talk to me about overexposure but I don’t agree.
Many of the products I did were just being launched, so the
ads would be taken off after a while. And more importantly,
according to me, overexposure is not a dirty way to die. In
the world of entertainment, not getting the recognition you
deserve is worse than dying of overexposure. It is better to
burn out than to rust out. It is better to be overexposed
than be underrecognised. They say a star is someone who
spends half his life struggling for recognition and the
other half wearing dark glasses to avoid being recognised. I
think that’s highly stupid. I think there is nothing like
overexposure, just as I think there’s nothing like
overacting.
I’m not at all ashamed of doing so many ads. The money I
made from advertising gave me the scope to do the kind of
cinema I wanted to. Though I have never done an ad only for
money. For products like Pepsi or Omega, I just tell them to
pay me as much as they can afford. Maybe they pay me less
than the other film star models. I don’t want to know what
x,y,z is getting paid. I enjoy the product because my name
is attached to it. I take great pride in the fact that I
have done the maximum number of Pepsi films perhaps in the
world. One model doing four different series of Pepsi
commercials is quite a big achievement. And India is the
country where Pepsi sells the most. I am very proud of the
fact that I am attached to this product. It is my product.
AD PHILOSOPHY
I do try to test a product before I decide to endorse it. But of course, I test a product only up to the level that an average person can do it. Like, I know Omega is a great product. Pepsi is a great drink - I drink it all the time. In the Indian market, Clinic All-Clear is better than the others. I may not travel in a Hyundai Santro because of security reasons but if somebody were to ask me about the car I would say it’s a good car because I have driven it. I don’t do alcohol ads because parents call me up and request me not to do it, though I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong in advertising alcohol. I don’t do cigarettes because my wife and my close friends tell me not to do it.
Ads have allowed me to do the kind of cinema I wanted to do. I am proud of all the ads and products that I have done. And I always wish from the bottom of my heart that the product I touch gets a fillip. Though I tell all of the advertisers that finally the product has to sell on its own strength. But I have good wishes for the product that signs me on. And I have done it with a good heartedness. It’s never been only for the money. And I am loyal to the product mainly because I feel that if they believe in me then I should believe in them.
It actually makes no difference not to have Coke or not to drive a Maruti car. But I make sure that in my films, if a car has to be shown it should be a Hyundai and if a watch has to be shown then it should be an Omega. I do these things without them asking me to. Pepsi wrote me a letter of thanks because in one I said Pepsi was my favourite drink. I do it because I feel attached to the product. And if they can gain even one more customer then it would be really nice. And besides, they pay me a lot of money…
MY FAVOURITES
I have done a total of around 25 ad campaigns out of which five-six were quite good. The Pepsi ‘dog’ film was very good, the Pepsi film with Sachin was also tremendous. The Hyundai concept was very good when it was started, but it was a five-film concept, which was later reduced to two films. Omega is nice because it is very simple. It’s an international style ad. I’m told the sales have increased a lot after I did the ad. And hearing that makes me feel really proud.